Welcome to the brokers blog; where we discuss the latest developments, common queries, spurious sources and the sublime, ridiculous and esoteric aspects of the mortgage industry.
Many self-employed applicants believe they’re at a disadvantage when it comes to securing a mortgage.
But the problem isn’t eligibility—it’s self-advising. The rules lenders apply to income calculations for the self-employed are often complex, technical, and vastly different from one another. What confuses many is not whether they can get a mortgage, but how their income will be assessed—and how that assessment can swing their borrowing potential by tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds.
This post unpacks the different classifications of self-employment—sole traders, limited companies, partnerships, LLPs, and contractors—and examines how lenders treat each. Whether you’re new to self-employment or an experienced business owner, understanding this will give you clarity—and a significant advantage when applying.
When Are You Considered Self-Employed for a Mortgage?
You may think you’re employed, especially if you’re on payroll—but if you own 20% or more of the business you work for, many lenders will treat you as self-employed and virtually all will work this way if you exceed 24% ownership. That means you’ll need to provide different types of income evidence than a standard employee would.
Being “self-employed” in the eyes of a lender doesn’t just refer to being your own boss—it’s about ownership, control, and liability.
How Sole Traders Prove Income: SA302s, Accounts, and Lender Variations
What is a Sole Trader?
A sole trader is a self-employed individual who owns and operates their business as a private individual. There’s no legal distinction between personal and business assets. It’s the simplest business structure in the UK and often used by freelancers, tradespeople, and consultants.
How Lenders Assess Income
Lenders will nearly always ask for:
- SA302s (tax calculation summaries from HMRC)
- Tax Year Overviews (TYOs) confirming tax paid
They’ll typically use your taxable profit as the income figure. But this is where it gets nuanced:
- The number of required years trading will vary; giving differing lending amounts.
- Some lenders may allow adjustments for capital allowances (like investment in equipment) which reduce taxable profit but don’t are not ongoing expenses.
- A small number may instead use operating profit from formal accounts—but only when these are professionally prepared.
Limited Company Directors Mortgage Rules: Salary, Dividends, and Retained Profit
What is a Limited Company?
A limited company is a distinct legal entity from its owners (directors/shareholders). Profits belong to the company, not the individual, and are typically paid out as a mix of salary and dividends.
How Lenders Interpret Income
This is where things really fragment:
- Some lenders use salary + dividends reported on SA302s. But other will use the company accounts, offering two different year ends, and very different lending amounts.
- A few consider retained profits (undrawn earnings left in the company) using:
- Net profit before tax
- Or operating profit (with or without director’s remuneration)
Different documents often cover different time periods, so two lenders may assess two different years—leading to wildly different loan sizes.
And if your company has:
- Large retained profits
- Heavy capital allowances
- Temporary R&D losses
- Or rapid growth in recent trading
…then some specialist lenders may ignore these anomalies or allow income to be based on just one year’s strong performance.
In short: your income could be £30,000 or £130,000 depending on which lender is looking.
Directors Loan Account Income in a Mortgage Application
Some company directors will be drawing income from a “directors loan account”. Often this is a notional deductible for tax-purposes created when parts of a business are sold or transitioned from one type of ownership to another.
Whilst great for tax purposes; directors loan account income is relatively toxic from a mortgage point of view with most lenders refusing to consider it. However, some may and this will be an income type where it highly unlikely you will successfully self-advise on a mortgage.
LLPs and Partnerships: Mortgage Evidence Rules for Business Partners
What is a Partnership or LLP?
A Partnership shares ownership and liability between individuals. A Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) allows partners to limit personal liability, functioning somewhere between a general partnership and a limited company.
Lender Preferences
Many lenders will look at:
- Your share of taxable profit from SA302s
- Tax year overviews
- Sometimes, partnership accounts showing total firm performance
However in LLP’s:
- Some lenders require returns from all partners, which can be extremely prejudicial in firms like law practices with 100+ partners.
- A few lenders may exclude unusual deductions (e.g. one-off R&D costs) or base assessments solely on the applicant’s income share.
Once again, approaches vary significantly. Some focus strictly on the individual; others scrutinise the firm as a whole. So using a competent mortgage advisor will make the process far simpler.
How Many Years of Accounts Do You Need for a Self-Employed Mortgage?
- Most high-street lenders want two years of accounts or tax returns.
- Some prefer three years, especially if profits are volatile.
- A growing number of lenders—both high street and specialist—can work with just one year of trading, especially with strong performance and sector stability.
This is key for startups or professionals transitioning into new business models. The quality and consistency of the accounts often matters more than time alone.
Changing from Sole Trader to Ltd Company: Does It Affect Your Application?
Switching from one business type to another? Lenders may see this as a continuation or a new venture—and it’s not always clear-cut.
Common Examples:
- Sole trader incorporating into a limited company: Some lenders treat it as the same business. But if a new shareholder (like a spouse) is added for tax planning, others may deem it a new business entirely.
- Running both sole trader and limited company simultaneously: This is usually problematic as one side of the income is decreasing significantly (and therefore often disregarded) whilst the other increases (and therefore gets averaged down). Avoiding this arrangement is generally best for mortgage purposes.
- Changes in trading activity: If your business has entered new markets or taken on new partners, many lenders will reset the clock on required trading history.
Can Contractors or CIS Workers Be Treated as Employed by Lenders?
What Are CIS and Day-Rate Contractors?
- CIS (Construction Industry Scheme): Self-employed but paid with tax deducted at source.
- Day-rate contractors: Typically IT, engineering, or creative professionals with consistent contracts.
How Lenders Treat Them
Some lenders assess these individuals as employed, using:
- A calculation like day rate × 5 × 46 weeks
- No need for two or three years of accounts
This can be especially helpful for:
- People who’ve just gone self-employed
- Those transitioning from salaried employment in the same industry
- Applicants with day/weekly contracts at equivalent or higher income levels than before
But this is an area where many lenders will not treat you in this preferential way, and for those that do it is dependent on lots of other widely varying criteria like income level, contract duration, length of industry sector experience etc. Hence using a mortgage broker is a good idea to navigate this complexity.
Why Income Evidence Changes How Much You Can Borrow
Even among reputable high street lenders, loan sizes can vary significantly based on:
- Income calculation method (SA302s vs accounts)
- Treatment of capital allowances
- Consideration of retained profits or R&D losses
- Number of trading years accepted
It’s not uncommon for one lender to offer £120,000 while another offers £320,000 to the same applicant.
Why You Should Use a Mortgage Broker if You’re Self-Employed
If you’re self-employed—whether as a sole trader, LLP partner, contractor, or limited company director—your mortgage journey is entirely navigable, but not intuitive.
Getting it right means:
- Understanding how lenders interpret income
- Knowing which documents to present—and when
- Matching your business structure to the right lender criteria
But this is only one aspect of your application, and all the others are equally complex and varied. And that’s why an experienced mortgage adviser makes the difference. We help ensure you’re assessed accurately and fairly, maximising your borrowing potential with the minimum of stress.
When it comes to building your credit profile, the internet is awash with well-meaning advice. Credit reference agencies often promote a strategy of regular borrowing, spending on credit, and applying for new lines of credit to “build a score.” But for many aspiring homeowners—especially those early in their UK financial journey—this guidance can be more harmful than helpful, at least in the short term.
This article explores how credit scoring really works when it comes to mortgage applications, why “building credit” through borrowing may backfire, and why you may already be mortgage-eligible—even if you’ve never had a credit card.
The Credit Building Myth: Why More Isn’t Always Better
Credit reference agencies like Experian and Equifax frequently advocate a proactive approach to credit building: take out a credit card, use it regularly, repay in full, and consider increasing your credit limit over time. These actions, they argue, demonstrate responsible borrowing and improve your score.
But here’s the catch: these same activities often create red flags for mortgage lenders.
- Too many credit applications in a short space of time? That’s a hard search footprint spree—mortgage lenders might see you as financially desperate. It’s also a high-risk indicator for identity fraud.
- Multiple credit cards or high balances, even if managed well? That can raise concerns about your overall debt-to-income ratio and signal over-reliance on credit or a debt appetite that could become unhealthy.
- New lines of credit shortly before a mortgage application? Many lenders interpret this as financial instability.
So, while your numerical score might be inching upwards, your mortgage eligibility could be quietly sliding downwards.
What Lenders Actually Want to See
Contrary to popular belief, mortgage lenders don’t just look at your “credit score” as a magic number. They consider a broader financial portrait, including:
- UK address history (residency length and consistency)
- Presence on the electoral roll (if possible)
- Current credit commitments (and how stretched they make your finances)
- Bank account stability
- Affordability assessments based on income—not just credit
In fact, most applicants with just one or two UK current accounts, a mobile contract or a utility bill will pass credit scoring—even at high loan-to-value ratios—after just a year or two of UK residency.
This is especially true if they’ve kept their credit history clean (i.e., no missed payments, defaults, or excessive credit usage) and have consistent address history.
Other factors also affect things. Regularly moving home, borrowing high income multiples, or financial pressures like having dependents may also impact your score.
No Credit? No Problem—Sometimes
A common misconception is that “no credit history” equals “bad credit.” But this isn’t always the case.
There are plenty of borrowers who have:
- Never taken out a credit card
- Never had a loan
- Lived in shared accommodation since childhood (so no bills in their name)
- Just opened their first UK current account
And yet—they pass credit scoring for a mortgage.
How? Because lenders weigh up a combination of risk factors. For many mortgage providers—especially those operating in the high loan-to-value space or serving younger borrowers—the absence of credit data is not automatically a dealbreaker. It’s certainly better than a credit file littered with missed payments, payday loans, or an overabundance of credit utilisation.
To put this into context: we recently had an application approved by a high street lender, on top-tier rates, for a foreign national with only 18 months’ UK residency, a 15% deposit, and no credit data at all. She was also a fixed-term contractor.
On the flipside, we’ve seen applicants with very high incomes, good credit history, big deposits, and high scores declined for reasons such as over-utilisation of available credit or an excessive debt-to-income ratio.
What Does Harm Mortgage Eligibility?
Here’s where the contradiction becomes obvious. While general credit advice pushes borrowers toward more borrowing, the factors that can seriously harm your mortgage chances include:
- Multiple hard searches in the last 3–6 months
Lenders see this as high-risk behaviour. It suggests financial strain or desperation.
- Too many active credit lines
Even unused cards can cause concern because of potential borrowing power.
- High credit utilisation
Using more than 30% of your available credit—especially if near the limit—can make you seem financially stretched.
- High debt-to-income ratio
Even if all your payments are up to date, owing sums that account for a high proportion of annual income indicates a higher risk of default.
- Short UK residency
Newcomers are already subject to stricter scrutiny. Layering risky credit behaviour on top can lead to an outright decline.
Incorrect information is also a major factor in failed credit scoring for those with limited credit data.
Credit scoring is a risk assessment system. The less data held on an individual, the greater the importance of consistency. With the rise of online account management, it’s easy to forget to update your address on your mobile phone, PayPal account, or a dormant bank account.
But inconsistency heightens the perception of risk. So it’s vital for those with limited data to ensure their records are consistent, up to date, and accurate.
We even saw one applicant declined—despite a good income, clean credit, and a large deposit—simply because he had numerous accounts under his nickname “Brad” instead of his legal name “Bradley”. Issues like this can take months to fix, so address them as early as possible.
A Smarter Approach: Focus on Stability & Accuracy—Not Activity
If you’re planning to apply for a mortgage in the near future, the best credit advice is actually quite simple:
- Avoid new credit applications for at least 3 months before applying.
- Don’t take out credit unless absolutely necessary.
- Keep existing accounts open and in good standing—but use them sparingly.
- Register on the electoral roll at your current address if eligible.
- Maintain consistent UK address history.
- Get your statutory credit report for free from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
- Ensure your information is accurate: use your full legal name, correct date of birth, and current address across all active accounts.
- Use a good mortgage advisor.
In short, less is often more. Yes, it’s in our interest to suggest using a broker—but it’s also in our interest to help you succeed. If you’re declined, we don’t get paid either. That’s why we work from a “first, do no harm” perspective—using credit checks sparingly and only with lenders aligned with your profile.
Final Thoughts: Rethink the “Credit Score Game”
The idea that you must be constantly borrowing to prove your creditworthiness is deeply flawed—especially in the mortgage world. For many borrowers, particularly young adults and new UK residents, overplaying the credit game can actively harm short-term eligibility.
Mortgage lenders want to see financial responsibility, not financial activity. That means stable accounts, low or no debt, and consistent behaviour—not a long list of hard credit checks or juggling multiple cards.
While using credit doesn’t inherently harm your score—and may help build it over time—it’s not a panacea for credit worthiness.
Before you take out that next credit-builder card or personal loan, ask yourself:
Is this helping me in the long term—or just ticking a box on a generic credit checklist?
A Common Question from Thoughtful Clients
One of the most frequent and understandable questions I hear from clients—particularly in times of economic uncertainty or media speculation—is:
“Should I wait to apply for my mortgage in case the Bank of England reduces the base rate?”
It’s a smart question, and it’s always wise to consider timing when making any major financial decision. However, the reality of how mortgage pricing works—particularly with fixed rate products—means that waiting rarely delivers the benefit clients hope for. In fact, it can often work against them. This article aims to unpack why that is, by taking a look at how fixed, tracker, and variable rates work, and how lenders operate behind the scenes.
How Fixed-Rate Mortgages Are Priced
Fixed-rate mortgages are not directly linked to the Bank of England base rate in the way some expect. While the base rate does exert influence on the overall interest rate environment, fixed mortgage pricing is typically based on market forecasts and expectations for interest rate movements over the term of the deal—usually 2, 3, 5, or 10 years.
Lenders use instruments like swap rates (essentially, what it costs them to borrow money for a set time) to set pricing. These swap rates are shaped by how financial markets predict interest rates will evolve, not by the rates themselves. So if a base rate reduction has been anticipated for weeks or months, the likely pricing impact will already have been “baked in” ahead of the Bank’s announcement.
A swap rate also encompasses other factors like Gilt and Bond Yields, that compete for funding but can work in converse relationships to central bank interest rates. So Swap rates could be increasing when Central Bank Rates are decreasing.
Moreover, lenders don’t update pricing overnight. Adjusting a product range involves not just repricing, but internal sign-offs, marketing updates, risk reviews, IT platform updates, and strategic planning. Lenders will also consider how aggressively they want to compete, what volume they aim to lend, and which customer profile they want to attract. Because of this, it can take days or even weeks for meaningful reductions to filter through—and even then, they may not be as significant as hoped.
Tracker, Variable, and Discount Rates: How They React to Base Rate Changes
Tracker products are somewhat an exception. These are directly pegged to the Bank of England base rate, typically with a small margin added (e.g., base +0.75%). This means they change almost immediately when the base rate moves. So, if you’re considering a tracker, there’s no need to “wait” for reductions—they’re automatic.
On the other hand, standard variable rates (SVRs) and discount rates, which are usually set by the lender, are a bit more opaque. While SVRs do tend to follow the Bank of England base rate over time, there is no obligation for lenders to pass on reductions at all—or to pass them on immediately. They may wait weeks or months, or choose not to reduce them at all, depending on internal margins, funding costs, and business strategy.
The Risk of Waiting for Rate Drops When Remortgaging
For clients looking to remortgage, the cost of waiting can be particularly high. If your current fixed deal is coming to an end, and you don’t secure a new product in time, you’ll usually revert to your lender’s SVR—which is often several percentage points higher than new fixed deals on the market.
If you delay applying in the hope that rates will drop, you risk:
- Falling onto the reversion rate, which is significantly more expensive.
- Running out of time to move lenders, which may limit you to a less competitive product with your current lender (who may not be offering their best rates to existing customers).
- Exposure to changes, as you secure the deal when you apply, you risk increases whilst you wait.
- Missing savings, as the extra monthly payments on the SVR can quickly offset any future gains from a small rate drop.
Unless we were anticipating a dramatic, sudden rate cut—which is historically rare—waiting simply doesn’t tend to pay off.
Once You Apply, the Flexibility is Yours
Another often overlooked advantage of applying early is that you usually lock in protection against rate increases once your application has been submitted.
Better still, most lenders allow us to switch you onto a lower rate, if they release one, right up to a couple of weeks before completion. This provides the best of both worlds—you’re shielded from potential increases but can still take advantage of reductions if and when they occur.
That’s why our standard process is to continue checking for better deals after your offer is issued, and we’ll let you know if a better rate becomes available with your lender during your transaction.
Final Thoughts: Waiting May Cost More Than It Saves
While no one can predict the market perfectly, experience has shown that trying to “time” the mortgage market is often a losing game. Yes, lenders come in and out of competitiveness, and from time to time the perfect deal may appear—briefly. But trying to wait for that perfect moment often results in missed opportunities, limited options, or higher costs.
In most cases, the wisest move is to apply sooner rather than later—secure your position, keep your options open, and retain the flexibility to pivot if something better comes along.
And as always, I’ll be here to monitor things on your behalf throughout the process—but do make sure to check in with me again around two weeks before you’re due to complete, so we can perform a final check and make sure you’re still on the most competitive deal available.
A big decision when applying for a mortgage is often whether to apply solely or jointly with a partner or spouse.
I frequently get enquiries where a customer wants to arrange a mortgage alone, despite being in a relationship or married. Often, they can be a little disgruntled about me digging deeper into this decision.
You shouldn’t be offended if a broker questions this decision, though.
It’s actually a sign of good mortgage advice. Ultimately, a mortgage advisor should ensure (to the fullest extent possible) that you get the best solution.
Whilst we cannot advise on matters of tax and law, we have a general awareness of the situations that can give rise to the biggest issues. It’s an important part of giving the best advice to ensure that a customer is basing decisions on genuine facts, not hearsay and getting other advice where relevant.
As part of that, many customers should get recommendations on both a sole and joint basis and consider options fully. If a broker doesn’t expand on this with you, it’s questionable whether they are doing a good job.
Why is applying in your sole name an issue?
There’s a myriad of complex legal and taxation issues that arise from the decision of whether to apply solely or jointly.
How you arrange the ownership will determine whether additional stamp duty or exemptions like First Time-Buyers Relief might be applicable. They may also impact on capital gains tax liabilities.
But these decisions can also lead to missing out on the additional relief for Inheritance Tax on a main residence, a property being inherited by a sibling or parent rather than an unmarried partner, a partner unintentionally becoming a co-owner and lots of other issues.
Secondly, there are a broad range to alternative solutions to ownership that might be suitable. Including specifying different percentages or ownership, secondary legal instruments like declarations of trust, mortgage products that allow a “joint borrower- sole proprietor”, etc.
It’s vital you know and understand your options. The cost implications can be life changing.
So let’s consider some of the reasons people might assume they must apply alone first:
- I’m the only income earner; this doesn’t mean you have to apply alone, although it might affect the potential loan amounts with some lenders (but not all). Either way, a good broker could give recommendations on a sole & joint basis.
- My partner is self-employed or has complex income; again, the mortgage broker should at least offer a sole & joint basis recommendation here. Self-employment isn’t complex for a competent advisor, and you might jeopardise the rate you could receive by placing constraints on the best solution.
- My partner is a foreign national on a visa; another example of a situation where you might be better off joint, and advice should cover all your options.
- My partner’s income is foreign; although most lenders don’t accept foreign income, it might not even be required on the application. This should not preclude a joint mortgage.
- My partner owns another property; This is an example where it may, for tax reasons, or possibly affordability, mean that a sole application is best. But it’s still a case where an adviser should consider the numbers and ensure this seems correct.
- My partner has significant debts; this doesn’t mean you should always apply alone, and the mortgage advisor should consider the level of debt, its impact on affordability and potential credit scoring and should discuss and agree this with you.
- My partner’s income is cash-based, seasonal or irregular; again, this does not mean they cannot be joint applicants, and it also doesn’t mean the income cannot be considered. Good advice should cover all options.
- My partner doesn’t have good credit; an advisor should consider what that means. If someone was previously bankrupt (for example), this might be relevant, but if an applicant just had a low credit score due to never having had credit, it might be irrelevant and have little to no effect on suitable products.
There are countless examples of reasons why someone might assume they should apply alone. But in reality, good advice should usually consider both sole and joint applications and then give you a cost differential for those options.
For many customers, though, the decision has been made based on legal or tax considerations and is about a preference for a sole application. So let’s consider some of those preferences:
- We want to take advantage of first-time buyer stamp duty relief and capital gains tax benefits on a buy-to-let investment in the future; current tax law would prevent this if the applicant is married or in a civil partnership in terms of stamp duty but might give some benefits in capital gains, so the advisor should be checking this to ensure this preference makes sense and guiding an applicant to take suitable tax advice. For those in a non-marital relationship, it could be a good decision. Also see the next point.
- My partner wants to buy a buy-to-let investment property, and it will be easier for them to get a mortgage; curiously, whilst the tax situation could be better for some situations, the mortgage eligibility situation is often worse. Most of the time, being on the ownership of your main residence and having experience with a mortgage will generally improve your buy-to-let mortgage options and potential maximum loans.
- All of the deposit is mine, and I want to retain full ownership of the property; where this is the case, it can make sense, but if the applicant is married, it may be irrelevant and marital law advice should be sought. Whether married or not, if the other person subsequently contributes to the bills or mortgage, they could gain a legal interest. Again, it’s best that some legal advice is taken, and there is the option to split ownership in differing percentages. An applicant should be advised of these options.
- I’m going through a divorce; The advisor needs to have considered this, as the finalising of the divorce settlement may need to take place before completion (or the property could become part of the settlement anyway). Considerations like whether there will be a level of maintenance to pay a former spouse must be factored into the lender’s affordability.
In concert with those considerations, though, an applicant must understand the legal effects of sole ownership, particularly regarding inheritance tax and the potential ownership of the property on death.
Sole ownership for a married couple could negate the joint inheritance tax threshold on a married couple’s main residence and cause a double tax bill on separate deaths. Similarly, for non-married couples, it could invoke double IHT bills and greatly increase the liability.
Where someone simply wanted to protect their interest on separation, other legal instruments might have given a better balance of risks. So this would be a situation where good tax and legal advice is paramount.
Wills must be made reflecting preferences for ownership and considering the impact of death where the property might pass into the ownership of parents, siblings or even children who are still minors rather than an unmarried partner who is also a parent.
Summary
To conclude, then, good mortgage advice should test your assumptions, offer you the opportunity to consider both sides of the coin if relevant, and direct you to take legal and tax advice in many instances.
Whilst it’s ultimately your choice to arrange things as you prefer, any advisor that doesn’t discuss these things with you and document them in their suitability letter is likely leaving scope for future complaints; whilst also ignoring the delivery of the best outcome for you.
In our Q&A, we address some of the frequent or unusual questions posed to mortgage brokers.
Does RSU income count as income towards a mortgage?
In short, yes! We can help you find lenders who can consider this income, though many will not.
There is, however, still a good range of suitable lenders for most applicants, with rates ranging upward from some of the most competitive in the market.
If your application has been declined, or if you have spoken to other advisors who said this income isn’t acceptable, call us.
It is a complex type of income, which many advice firms may be unfamiliar with. Many lenders will not accept it, so never take being refused by a few lenders as a definitive answer.
If another advisor says it’s unsuitable, other factors may be involved. So always take a second and third opinion.
Our RSU income mortgage advice service
The criteria determining overall eligibility and how much will contribute towards your maximum loan is complex and varied.
The good news is we can help you find and arrange suitable loans with lenders who accept this income stream and calculate correctly their appropriate maximum loans whilst also ensuring that you meet all the other criteria that might be applicable.
There’s a good chance (if you receive RSU income) that you may also have other challenging factors, like non-sterling income, dual-taxation arrangements or a fixed-term contract. If you are a foreign national on a visa, this is also one of our areas of expertise, so rest assured we can help.
Our typical advice fee is only payable after a fully approved application (there is no cost in getting recommendations). So, we don’t earn anything unless an application is successful.
Our typical fee is just £299. We earn a commission from the lender (but this is built into the product), so we don’t change the rate or applicable fees. We’re whole of the market and deal with most of the lenders in the UK. We don’t typically charge a fee on remortgages.
We do not, however, deal with customers residing outside the UK. If you live overseas, we cannot assist you. Other advisors may.
Maximum income multiple available with RSU income
This question, is raised frequently. But lenders don’t just use income multiples, so you shouldn’t focus on this aspect.
Whilst most lenders have a maximum multiple (which many never publish), they usually have a myriad of other calculations as well; based on net income, other credit commitments, financial dependents and stress testing based on notional interest rates (one reason why maximum loans have decreased significantly in the current high-interest rate environment).
So, the only way to get a firm sense of how much you can borrow with complex income streams is to speak to a competent broker such as ourselves; we can check all the suitable lenders’ affordability calculations.
When it comes to complex income streams, especially those that vary month-to-month, it’s necessary to see payslips over 3-12 months, P60s and get a full breakdown of all commitments to give an accurate estimate.
If you try to preempt this with income multiples, you might either massively over or underestimate realistic borrowing levels. There is no cost involved in having an outline discussion with us. So get in touch!
Factors affecting the lenders available for RSU income mortgages
With any income that fluctuates, lenders will often look for continuity. If a monthly bonus scheme has been received in only one of the last three months, fewer lenders will accept it.
Being a UK taxpayer and being paid in sterling is a requirement for many lenders accepting RSU income, but not all. If your income is in another currency or taxed overseas, we can still help.
The length of time working for your current employer will be pivotal in the number of lenders available. If you have worked for this organisation for less than a year, fewer lenders are available.
Some lenders will only consider this income once it vests. Hence, they may be looking at income received two or three years ago. In that case, you would need to have been employed with the current firm for a long period.
What is income paid as ‘restricted stock units’ otherwise known as RSU income?
This income is quite unusual for those employed outside the tech sector. The employer pays someone part of their salary or performance-related pay in the company’s shares instead of cash.
These shares are restricted, meaning they receive them several years after being awarded, typically with a requirement to remain at the business to receive those share units.
It’s a great way for the company to create further incentives for the employee to remain at the organisation, and work to the best of their ability.
The employee has a significant part of their income riding on both remaining at the business and its long-term performance.
Why do many lenders refuse to accept this income?
The logic can be quite varied and is typically quite flawed.
Lenders will often say it’s about the volatile nature of many of the shares involved; price fluctuations in shares like Alphabet (or Google), Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, etc might be more transient than others, but they are still some of the most valuable entities on earth.
Some lenders complain that the income is deferred and not in someone’s pocket for several years.
That could be a concern for a new starter, but (for those who have been in the job for several years), they arguably provide a greater degree of certainty that the applicant’s income continues through recessions and downturns.
They might also choose to retain the stock as an investment, but anyone paid cash could also buy shares with their income; the lender still has the same exposure.
Really, underneath the answers given by the lenders is an underlying truth; lenders have to simplify their decision-making processes and regiment these in some way (to facilitate scaling their operation).
So, only the smaller building societies or boutique private banks tend to assess each application on a ‘case by case’ basis and typically charge a premium for that service.
Most lenders, therefore, create a very defined set of rules about what is allowed, and these rules often take a long time to reflect changes in the outside world.
RSU income will likely become increasingly accepted due to its growing prevalence and the fact that it arguably offers the lender more protection than other performance-related pay.
But today, if your lender refuses to consider this income, applying via a different lender will likely be the most effective use of time, and we can help to ensure that application goes to a lender who accepts this income.
