Remortgage when Self-Employed
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Remortgage when Self-Employed
Hemat Natha explains the remortgaging process for people who are self-employed.
Can I remortgage if I’m self-employed? Is it harder to remortgage for the self-employed?
Of course – you can remortgage if you’re self-employed, employed or have more than one occupation.
Just to explain who we’re talking about here, someone who is self-employed runs their own business to generate income and submits tax returns at the end of the financial year.
You might be a sole trader; an individual that owns their own businesses, such as an electrician, plumber or handyman. Or, you might own your own limited company, taking an income through salary and dividends and producing company accounts. You may have people in a partnership with you – which is common in the legal sector.
However your business is set up, we’ll need relevant documentation to help you remortgage onto a better deal. It’s not really any harder, we will just ask you a few more questions to understand your income and your circumstances.
How long do you have to be self-employed to remortgage? Can you remortgage if you’re newly self-employed?
It’s a good question, because we do help customers get a mortgage while they’re employed, and then two or three years down the line, they decide to start a business.
We’ve had someone open a fast food outlet. We’ve had people in the IT industry who decide to become contractors. The most recent example is a plumber who was employed by a firm and then set up his own business.
Typically, you need to have been self-employed for at least a year. In the examples I just talked about, all those customers had been in the same line of work for the last two or three years – and some lenders will ask for that track record.
If you have recently started a business and you have one year’s worth of accounts, we can still help – but the number of lenders available will probably be limited. We know the lenders, their criteria and what they’re looking for. Sometimes we need to have a chat with the lender – they’ll say yes or no and we’ll go from there.
If you’re newly self-employed we will still need at least one year’s worth of accounts to prove your income.
We do work with a few Uber drivers who really work hard and are classified as self-employed. They do their tax returns as a sole trader – we can take that income into account as long as it’s been declared on the tax return. As long as we have at least a year’s income figures to work with, we can help.
How does the self-employed remortgage process work?
It always starts with a phone call or email to us. We will just ask you some questions to understand your circumstances and what you want to achieve.
We might then request more information or documentation to prove your income. We can speak to your accountants if you pass us their details and give us consent to talk to them.
We obtain your documents and look at your credit, your outstanding mortgage and whether you want to borrow more, change the term or choose a new method of repayment. We’ll ask all those questions and then do some research.
Whether you’ve recently opened a business, or you have declining or increasing profits, we’ll be able to look at all of that to find a lender to remortgage with.
We present you with the solutions at a face to face meeting or a Teams meeting. You can ask as many questions as you want – we’re here to answer them and take you through the whole process, with personalised advice.
Can you remortgage with no proof of income?
Remortgaging means moving your mortgage from one lender to another. Any lender on a residential mortgage will need proof of your income. They need to be certain you can afford to pay the mortgage.
After the subprime crisis we had a lot of regulation changes so that people can’t self-certify their income. Mortgage providers tightened up their lending policies, so you can’t remortgage without proof of income.
But because you already have a mortgage, if there are challenges around your income we can do something with your existing lender – to organise a new deal or a new rate. If you want to borrow any more money, though, you will need to be able to prove that you can repay the mortgage.
Can I remortgage if I have bad credit?
Yes, you can remortgage with bad credit. Part of our process is to request a credit report from Checkmyfile, which gives us an indication of the credit you have outstanding and how well you’ve been maintaining it.
We assess that before finding a lender, because if you’ve had a missed payment on a credit card, you’ve got an arrangement to pay, you have outstanding credit, loans or hire purchases, we need to know. There’s no point in applying for a mortgage if you’ve had a credit blip that the lender doesn’t accept.
We will tell you if the most competitive lenders won’t accept your circumstances. We can go to another lender who will accept your credit situation.
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It doesn’t cost anything for a chat, it’s free and we never charge a fee until we’ve got a mortgage offer. So pick up the phone and let us take it from there.
Can a self-employed person be declined a mortgage?
We will do everything we can to mitigate a decline. When we input all your details we will get something called a Decision in Principle, where a lender accepts your details and lets us move on to a full application.
Because we’ve seen your credit report and we know your income, we can be confident that the mortgage is going to be affordable. We will speak to the lender about any blips on your credit.
So, in theory, we shouldn’t ever have a decline on a remortgage. A decline only comes in where clients have not disclosed information to us that we need to know. So just be open and transparent with your mortgage broker about your intentions to use the money, any bad credit – and, in fact, any people that you might be associated with in terms of your credit. That will guide us on which lender to go to to avoid a decline on the remortgage.
You might wonder if a decline on a mortgage application will affect your credit file, but it won’t adversely impact you – unless you have made too many credit searches under your name in a short space of time.
How can I better my chances of a good remortgage as someone who is self-employed?
Preparation is key. Speak to a good broker who will take the time to understand your circumstances and your objectives. Choose a broker who understands your income and how it’s structured.
Be very timely with your documents. Some of our self-employed clients have accountants that help with tax planning. If you’re a limited company director, we can use the net profits of your company after corporation tax and adding back your director’s salary.
Some people declare other forms of income on their tax return, from rental property or investments. We can use all different types of income.
Make sure you maintain your credit well – set a direct debit for minimum payments on all your credit cards, mobile phones and hire purchase agreements. Being on the voters’ roll always helps, as well, so that the lender knows where you live and can track your address history.
What are the benefits of remortgaging?
We would typically remortgage a customer if they want to borrow extra money and their existing lender is not able to do that. Or, if a customer wants a better rate and the existing provider is not offering one. You may want to change the term or the method of repayment.
As an example, we had a customer that wanted to borrow some money to purchase a Buy to Let property. Their existing lender wouldn’t give them the amount needed so we had to remortgage to a lender that would allow the equity to be released for that Buy to Let purchase.
But 9 out of 10 times remortgaging is about finding a better rate. But it might be that your income status has changed. You might have left employment and become self-employed and you need to borrow extra money. Your existing lender may just not accept your current circumstances. Perhaps they need two years’ income to work out an average total.
We would then go to a lender that will take your one year’s accounts and allow you to remortgage – that’s another benefit of remortgaging, to find a lender that will accept your circumstances.
How can a mortgage broker help if somebody is looking to remortgage when they’re self-employed?
We will take the time out to understand your circumstances. Let us do the hard work and the research. We do this day in, day out. We know the lenders’ policies and we will ask you lots of questions and take you through the whole process.
If we’re not able to do something for a particular reason we’ll let you know. We save you a lot of time. If you go out there on the high street – if you can find a bank now with them all shutting down – one conversation takes an hour. Instead, let us give you some answers and take away the hassle.
We’ll even assist you with the legal paperwork, as well as follow up and chase things for you while you’re working – that’s an added benefit, as well.
THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE SECURING OTHER DEBTS AGAINST YOUR HOME. YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.
YOU MAY HAVE TO PAY AN EARLY REPAYMENT CHARGE TO YOUR EXISTING LENDER IF YOU REMORTGAGE.
There may be a fee for mortgage advice. The precise amount of the fee will depend upon your circumstances but will range from £295 to £2290 and this will be discussed and agreed with you at the earliest opportunity.
Useful links
- Remortgage Explained
- Remortgaging for Home Improvements
- Remortgaging for Debt Consolidation
- Bad Credit Remortgage
- Remortgage With Credit Card Debt
- Buy to Let Remortgage
- Remortgage when Self-employed
- Product Transfer
- How soon can you remortgage before fixed-rate ends?
- Remortgage of an Unencumbered Property
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