Help - partners job is classed as a 'Piece work'

sarah-b8

Hi I really hope that someone might be able to help me,

My husband and I have been saving hard to get a deposit to buy our first home. A couple of months ago we went along to our back to establish if we would be able to get a mortgage with them. The process went relatively smoothly until it came to my husbands income. He works as a PAT tester and rather than being paid a basic wage he is paid per test he completes.
We explained all this to the mortgage advisor and he seemed quite stummped as to how to proceed, we took along all his pay slips for the past several years and P60's. In the end in order to get us an amount he decided to use the last p60 figure as my husbands annual salery and to make sure that this was correct he took copies of his last 3 pay slips and last 2 p60's and advised us that he would send them off to an underwriter for their opinion.
A couple of days later we received a call from the advisor to confirm that the underwrited had agreed with his decision and that the p60 figure could be used for a mortgage application.

Fastforward to today, my husband was in another branch of the same bank and was discussing our previous meeting with another advisor, they told him that his type of work is known as Piece work and that they would not be able to offer a mortgage to him because of this.

What I would like to know is do any providers offer mortgages for people in our position? To be honest I had never heard of the term until today and at this moment it is looking like it is going to toally ruin all our future plans.

Any help and advice would be greatly apprciated.

Many Thanks

Sarah

Wh05apk

If you have already had this referred to an underwriter, and they have indicated that it should be ok to use p60 figure, then why are you now taking notice of a bank mortgage seller with less experience?

From what you have said, it sounds like your husband gets a fairly regular income, and had done so for some years, so I think this is one where several lenders would take a sensible view and use the p60 figure.

sarah-b8

Hi thanks for your reply,

I know what you are saying and would hope that you are right. The problem is that as it was the same bank that he went to just a different branch they searched the records of our meeting and said that there is no record that this has been referred to an underwriter.

I would try and call the original advisor but its one of those banks that you can never actually speak to anyone in your local branch!

Sarah

Wh05apk

I would either get someone to refer it back to an underwriter, and get something in writing, or use a broker, who will place it with a lender who will accept this.

Unfortunately a lot of branch staff are clueless in respect of their policy, or even worse think they know it, and will not refer something like this to more experienced staff.

kingstreet

Many bank employees also think that if their employer doesn't do something, no-one else does, as their experience is often limited.

sarah-b8

Do you mind me asking, have you heard of 'piece work' before and in your experiance will many lenders offer mortgages to peopel who do this sort of work?

Wh05apk

Piece work is normally where someone is paid by each item produced or a part of work, not sure exactly what a PAT tester is, but I think you will find if your husbands is consistent, and has been doing it for a number of years, then several lenders will accept it, but may possibly need to be referred before submitting the application.

kingstreet

There's a fair amount of piecework around the Potteries and a few local building societies will accept pieceworkers as a result. It's a few years since I did one, but I can't see why they would have changed such a useful, local, approach.

sarah-b8

PAT tester is Portable Appiance Testing - basically making sure that everything with a plug is safe and wont give you an electric shock. He is the person that puts all the annoying stickers on your work PC etc

Thank you for your help, he has been very consistant in his work, the bank could see that his salery had gone up each year on his P60's and his is on target for another increase at the end of this tax year.

I have the details of an independant mortgage advisor that my friends used so we will contact him and see how we get on.

Sarah

Let_Us_See

If you can provide proof of consistent income then I do not think you will have a problem with your husband's income. These days so many employed people work different hours/shifts that differing salary slips are a common occurrence.