Mortgage Blog
Our mortgage blog combines contractor-specific updates on the mortgage, finance and housing industries with our unique opinion, based on 16 years serving self-employed workers.
COVID-19’s long-term impact on mortgage lending
Posted by on August 21st, 2020 in Mortgage Blog
My biggest takeaway from the COVID-19 pandemic so far? Previously resolute lenders’ mortgage criteria are no longer set in stone. They have become dynamic, reactive and tenuous.
Each month, week, and day, borrowing terms change. Lenders seem not to work to an ethos or an ‘ideal’, as they have done up until now. Instead, they introduce or amend criteria based on the latest data sets and figures impacting industry sectors.
The new ‘normal’, so far as such a thing exists, includes lenders:
- withdrawing 85% to 90% LTV products without warning;
- performing U-turns on mortgage offers on applications that conformed to criteria only hours before;
- introducing stricter lending criteria, including new risk factors, and
- subjecting brokers to long delays, due to staffing levels and the incumbent market.
This combination has presented many challenges for mortgage brokers and consumers alike. We’re all having to navigate a maze of changes and a complex set of hereto unheard of circumstances.Continue reading about COVID-19’s long-term impact on mortgage lending
COVID-19’s Impact on Mortgage Availability and Accessibility
Posted by on June 5th, 2020 in Mortgage Blog
On the face of it, here we are: moving tentatively towards the other side of lockdown. As an industry, a nation, a world of one people, we’ve longed for the lifting of lockdown restrictions since their imposition. So, now that we’re within touching distance, what does ‘back to normal’ mean?
COVID-19’s impact has turned most people’s lives upside down. For contractors in particular, the pandemic has had a huge impact on mortgage availability. But we’ve all faced different hurdles, both at home and at work. The experience has left many of us bruised, battered and unsure of what happens next.
Content bookmarks:
- Slim pickings for low deposit mortgages;
- Update, 23rd August, 2020: low deposit mortgages in constant flux;
- The problem with mortgage payment holidays (especially if you don’t need them);
- Alternatives to payment holidays;
- Extra checks for new mortgage applications;
- Remortgaging Options;
Continue reading about COVID-19’s Impact on Mortgage Availability and Accessibility
Mortgage Payment Holidays: Good or Bad for Contractors?
Posted by on May 7th, 2020 in Mortgage Blog
If you’re a contractor on reduced income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be tempted to take a mortgage payment holiday. I’d urge you to think before making that leap.
Most lenders are offering a 3-month break from paying your mortgage (plus loans and credit cards) while we remain in lockdown. If we don’t get the virus under control, they may have to rethink and extend that position.Continue reading about Mortgage Payment Holidays: Good or Bad for Contractors?
The Smart Way for First-Time Buyers to Save on Stamp Duty
Posted by on November 12th, 2018 in Mortgage Blog
We get that First-Time Buyers often struggle to get onto the property ladder. For those trying to buy their first home on their own, it can be even more difficult. Saving the deposit, securing the mortgage, solicitors fees and budgeting for Stamp Duty? The costs keep adding up in a relentless spiral.
But borrowers got a hand up from an unexpected source in 2017. In the Autumn Budget, The Government introduced Stamp Duty relief for first-time buyers. Here’s how it works: Continue reading about The Smart Way for First-Time Buyers to Save on Stamp Duty
How does a BoE base rate rise affect my mortgage repayments?
Posted by on September 20th, 2018 in Mortgage Blog
If you have a fixed rate mortgage, the BoE base rate rise in August need mean little to you. At least not yet. But when your fixed rate ends, you’ll drop onto your lender’s variable rate. That’s when the rise—the first in a decade—will affect your repayments.
If you’re already on a variable or tracker rate, your repayments will increase immediately. Here’s how you’ll feel the result of that increase in your pocket, contractor or not.
The historic low rate had to end someday
Continue reading about How does a BoE base rate rise affect my mortgage repayments?
Even with payslips, High Street mortgages elude umbrella contractors
Posted by on July 20th, 2018 in Mortgage Blog
You’re an experienced contractor working in the public sector. Over time, you’ve become smart. You predicted the issues with automatic payroll. So on balance, you opted to work through an umbrella company.
You’re not alone. Nine in every ten public sector contractors now use umbrella company payment structures.
And now that you’ve got payslips, you think: “Yes! Getting a mortgage now will be a doddle!” Right?Continue reading about Even with payslips, High Street mortgages elude umbrella contractors
The Great Rip Off: How Estate Agents Cash in on Your Mortgage
Posted by on April 18th, 2018 in Mortgage Blog
Joe Public’s largest ever financial commitment is often buying a home. You’d expect handling that transaction would assume a certain amount of responsibility.
But the fact is, estate agents are ripping homebuyers off when it comes to the mortgages they offer.
The government is planning to put a stop to these practices. In the interim, current practices are bad enough for unsuspecting employees. But when estate agents force their own mortgage lenders on specialist borrowers? It can spell disaster.
Continue reading about The Great Rip Off: How Estate Agents Cash in on Your Mortgage
Why IT (Information Technology) Contractor Mortgages are Different
Posted by on December 29th, 2017 in Mortgage Blog
Freelancer Financials has championed the cause of IT (Information Technology) contractor mortgages for a decade. Most mortgage underwriters also recognise the high income potential of digital placements. At least they see that potential in principle.
Getting those same underwriters to adopt lending policies tailored to the IT sector? That’s where our job becomes more difficult.Continue reading about Why IT (Information Technology) Contractor Mortgages are Different
Offset mortgages offer a “golden opportunity for contractors”
Posted by on May 17th, 2017 in Mortgage Blog
Contractors ignoring offset mortgages could be overpaying £1,000s in needless interest. Recent research, reviewed here, highlights the scale of missed opportunity.
Table of contents:
- What can contractors gain from offset mortgages?
- How research helps us understand this strange aversion
- Accord research:
- Yorkshire research:
- Why the mass misconception of how offset lending works for contractors?
- What savings can count towards offsetting my interest?
- How does an offset mortgage work? An example using more than one savings account:
- What are the different types of offset mortgage?
- Our conclusion
Continue reading about Offset mortgages offer a “golden opportunity for contractors”
Can I get a mortgage on a fixed term or zero hours contract
Posted by on March 29th, 2017 in Mortgage Blog
Can fixed term contract employees get contractor mortgages?
At Freelancer Financials, we’re used to people using us as a last resort. Mention any other type of employment contract to a lender than ‘permanent’, and, well. It’s as if a Dementor has sucked all the joy from your advisor’s world. Then, as a consequence, yours.
Let’s make no bones: our main client profile is that of the professional contractor. They often work through agencies and pay themselves through a limited company structure.
But there is another type of contract that’s becoming evermore popular. It’s sort of a mix between permanent employment and professional contracting.
Continue reading about Can I get a mortgage on a fixed term or zero hours contract
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