Contractor Mortgages Calculator UK

Many factors will affect how much a mortgage lender is prepared to lend you to buy your home. There's no one rule that governs all banks and building societies. Not all lenders are contractor friendly, either. Even if they are, you won't always find an amenable adviser in branch.

Most lenders still class contracting as a specialist niche. As such, an underwriter at head office will preside over your application, using "contract-based underwriting".

We are your direct line to those underwriters. Based on negotiating with them, we know the following factors will affect their final mortgage offer:

• the value of the mortgage itself;
• how much you've managed to set aside to date for the deposit;
• how long (or short) you want to repay the mortgage over;
• any existing financial commitments you need to uphold;
• what credit agencies hold on record for you;
• how many dependants you're responsible for and their respective ages;
• how long you've been contracting;
  • if it's only a short time, they'll need your recent work history, too;
• and, of course, your contract rate and its duration.

How much can you borrow?

With contract-based underwriting, you can access competitive mortgage finance, often from day one as a contractor. For an at-a-glance estimate of how much you can borrow, just set the slider to your day rate in our calculator, below:

That figure is correct! Our mortgage calculator works out your potential borrowing using the following general calculation*:

• Your daily rate in £;
• x 5 days per week;
• x 48 weeks per year;
• x 4.5, the average multiple contractor friendly lenders use to calculate your affordability.

Buying your home this way is ideal if you're new to contracting or have just won a lucrative contract. It's the first step the majority of contractors take once they realise their borrowing potential.

Using your new contract, the property ladder isn't as hard to get onto as you'd think. Plus, it will get you a much more competitive mortgage than your limited accounts would in a High Street branch. The reasons why specialist mortgage brokers are the only choice for contractors are many and covered in depth in our FAQ.

*All lenders have different contractor mortgage criteria, especially post-lockdown. To get a precise estimate, we can take all the aforementioned information to secure you a firm offer.

Before you take that step, do check your credit rating, as failed searches can be harmful to your score. And do check that the details held on your local electoral roll are correct, too. Once that's all in place, we can work out the precise amount you can borrow, based on your contract rate. Good luck!