Advice needed for self-employed mortage seeker

rgvkid

hi all,
i am starting to look into mortages (first mortage) and am self-employed.
any advice would be much appreciated,since none of my friends are self-employed so their advice is only half-relevant.
any tips from other self-employed people would be much appreciated,because i am being dazzled by tons of information about mortages.
am i right in that my main option is a self-certified mortage ?? my current bank (halifax) were not interested because my proveable earnings are low for the last few years,but have now increased in the last year to the point that i can afford a mortage.
many thanks

herbiesjp

Being self employed does not mean only being able to go for self cert mortgages - as long as you have accounts/self assessment returns disclosing your income you will be able to get a high street mortgage.

Each lender has different criteria for what they will accept, but the rates will normally be better than the self cert rates.

rgvkid

thanks,
but as i found out with the halifax(who i have had accounts with for 20+years,though we all know this counts for nothing) they were after about 3 years worth of accounts/tax returns.i have all this but the money involved is so small that they would only give me a tiny amount of money.it has only been in the last year that i have started to earn enough money to justify a mortage.
i will start to check with some other banks/institutions.
cheers

bingo_2

I think I'm right in saying that Intelligent Finance only want to see last years accounts (1 years accounts) or certifed letter form accountant, or last years inland revenue tax assessment.
Funnily enough IF is part of the Halifax group, but dont let that put you off, as thats their only connection
https://www.if.com

AndrewSmith

If you do end up looking at self certify I would suggest Birmingham Midshires as they have 2 year fixed rates with no extra tie in currently around the 4.49% range. They are notoriously quick and efficient.

They are also part of the Halifax Bank of Scotland group.

Downside is you will need 15% deposit to self certify.

Andy

rgvkid

many thanks for the advice so far guys,
should have said in my original post that i'm looking to get a mortage for approx. 90K,and have approx. 15K for a deposit.
cheers

nrsql

Was in a similar situation many years back and went to John Charcoal. They specialise in this sort of thing (or did) and will probably find something.
I didn't go with them as it was expensive and their fees astronomical (at least it seemed so to me at the time) but having the offer in priciple at least meant I could look for properties knowing I wasn't wasting my time - and also gave a starting point to negotiate with other companies and brokers.

AndrewSmith

I would suggest seeking advice from a reputable Independant Mortgage Advisor. Don't be scared to ask up front for their fees and charges.

Under the new FSA rules you should be given this information volentarily at the first contact with the firm.

Thanks
Andy

mummytofour

I think you should def be looking at a whole of market broker. Martin an article on this somewhere.

Vxx

JohnG

Hi rgvkid,

As soon as I started reading yr msg I was going to say don't bother trying the Halifax..... Then I saw that you've already found out how un-customer friendly they actually are.

I've been self-employed for about 8 yrs and had a mortgage with the Halifax since 1985 - when we went to switch to a better mortgage deal with Halifax they wouldnt even consider a lesser mortgage amount based on my yearly accounts. They simply dont' take into consideration:

1. That Self Employed accounts include various expense/business claims etc which are included to minimise (legally) income tax hence the bottom line figure looks unimpressive. (My accountant would not entertain the idea of producing a different set of accounts for mortgage purposes incidently as it would obviously be unlawful).

2. The fact that we have never defaulted on mortage payments for 18 years +/-, a number of which were at a significantly high interest rate mostly since being self employed.

3. Our house which is worth much more than the original £46,000 mortgage which is all that we wanted to stay with and quite a small amount by today's standards.

They were totally intransigent which we found extremely insulting.

We eventually turned to the C&G who had sent us promotional material on their mortgages. I spoke to them over the phone and at first, when I gave a them the same account figure/s they were not going to help but when I stressed all the reasons (as above) plus the fact they we were TSB Lloyds a/c etc etc they kindly saw sense and relented, allowing us the required mortgage after all. I can tell you it was a blessed relief and a happy moment!

So my recommendation to you is try contacting some of the other mortgage providers directly and if necessary spell out, strongly if necessary, how and why you should given the chance of a mortgage offer - It might depend on who you speak to and whether they can see beyond yr self employed accounts but occasionally there are some understanding people out there .

Good luck! :beer:
JohnG

rgvkid

many thanks for that john g,and everyone else.sorry for delay in replying but been away and only had email access.
will be getting some time off work in a week or 2,so will look into the mortage thing then,appreciate all the input.
regards,
col