Contractor Mortgage FAQs
When did you last hear a contractor or freelancer express how easy it was finding a decent mortgage provider? Not recently, I’ll bet.
There are exceptions. But securing any type of finance as a contractor is no gimme for most.
Through both personal experience and engaging on countless forum threads, we know the issues. We’ve come to realise exactly how scarce mortgages for contractors are on the High St since lenders binned the self-cert.
Not that we ever believed self-cert was the right way for contractors to fund buying a home in the first place. It was perhaps the right mortgage choice for Sole Traders and other Self-Employed entities. For those who didn’t declare all of their earnings, well: it worked.
It was very much a case of the banks and building societies saying:
“Well, you just tell us how much you earn. How much of that you declare to the Revenue is your concern.”
The self-employed, including many freelancers, were consistently securing mortgages this way. As such, self-cert also became the go-to product Independent Financial Advisors offered contractors.
As a result, traditional brokers 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 today. The reason: specialist brokers can assess them on the strength of their contract alone.
Going the specialist mortgage broker route is essential if you want to reap the benefits of your contractor status.
You may argue that, yes, we would say that. But many of our past clients have struggled with mainstream lenders before coming to us. So much so that 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;
- address mortgage-specific queries;
- explain why Freelancer Financials is different from other service providers.
This extensive resource provides all the advice you need to apply for a contractor mortgage with confidence. When you’re done, you’ll realise it’s with the lenders and not with your contractor status where the problems lie.
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
