Contractor Mortgage FAQs
When did you last hear a contractor or freelancer express how easy it was to find a decent mortgage provider? Not recently.
There are exceptions; but, for the majority, securing any finance when you’re a contractor is no gimme.
Through a combination of personal experience and engaging on countless forum threads, we realise exactly how scarce mortgages for contractors have become since the self-cert was shelved.
Not that we ever believed self-cert was the right way for contractors to fund their home purchase in the first instance. It was perhaps the right mortgage for Sole Traders and Self-Employed entities who didn’t declare all of their earnings.
In those instances, it was very much a case of the banks saying:
“Well, tell us how much you earn. How much of that you declare to the Revenue is your concern.”
Because the self-employed and many freelancers were securing mortgages this way, self-cert also became the accepted product Independent Financial Advisors would offer to contractors.
Traditional brokers subsequently tarred all self-employed people with the same brush and it stuck. Sad to say, many still do.
The good news is that contractors are in a much stronger position than that. The reason: they can be assessed on the strength of their contract alone.
However, putting your trust in a specialist mortgage broker is essential if you want to reap the benefits of your contractor status.
You may argue that we would say that. But so many of our clients have struggled with these issues before coming to us in the past, we’ve collated answers to our most frequently asked questions into one resource, here.
The following answers address those past concerns and will help you to define what’s missing from your approach. And it is your approach, not your circumstances, that is tripping you up.
In this 3-part F.A.Q., we’ll:
- clarify the contractor status itself, first;
- then address mortgage-specific queries;
- and finally explain why Freelancer Financials is different from other service providers.
When you’re done absorbing this extensive resource, you’ll feel confident that it’s with the lenders and not you where the real problem lies.
We challenge you to surprise yourself yet further by realising how much you can borrow through a specialist broker using our mortgage calculator.
Author: John Yerou
John Yerou is the owner and founder of Freelancer Financials; a trading style & trade mark of the award winning Mortgage Quest Ltd. One of the most recognised names in providing mortgages for contractors and freelancers across the UK.
In 2004 John began his career in Financial Services as an independent mortgage adviser and broker. John has been instrumental in negotiating bespoke underwriting for contractors with high street lenders.
His presence in the industry as a go-to expert is growing by the day and he is regularly cited and writes in publications both locally and nationally.
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Testimonials
Finding a Financial Advisor who’s professional and knowledgeable is a bonus but one that you trust and feel comfortable with immediately is rarer still. I have recommended John to virtually all the other IT Contractors that I work with and will continue to use their services in the future.
John Yerou and his team provided the brokerage service for my last 3 mortgages and I cannot rate them highly enough. No matter how large or small the request they always provide a speedy and professional response. I would never consider using another advisor/broker.
We have been introducing Contractors and Freelancers to Freelancer Financials for several years now. They have established themselves as the preferred choice of financial advisors to all our IT contractors and Freelancers.
Andrew Saunders and Leanie Freed have provided an impressive service - one month from initial enquiry to completion of house purchase, with a mortgage from an established high street lender on a good interest rate. The service was clear, responsive and professionally managed throughout. Most importantly, Andrew understands the business context for contractors and this directly informs their approach to lenders
