UK Citizen paid in USD. Can I get a mortgage?

domgilberto

Hey all!

So I am currently in the situation whereby my girlfriend and I are in the process of getting a mortgage. In-fact, we have a mortgage in principle with HSBC of £270,000 GBP.

The only thing that HSBC are unaware of (and I innocently didn't think to say) is that I am paid in USD from a company registered in Hong Kong. I am also responsible for my own taxes here (which I pay an accountant to do) but I am an employee (i.e. there is an employment contract in place). I have also been employed with this company for over a year.

My girlfriend is straight down the middle. She is paid in GBP from a UK company, UK citizen and a PAYE status.

We have zero debt and perfect credit rating (so this part is nice and easy).

Does anyone have any knowledge on who will lend to us and whether or not the amount would be less because of how they calculate my GBP equivalent income?

Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated!

Thrugelmir

Who are you employed by , the HK operation ? Or a UK subsidiary.

domgilberto

I am employed by the Hong Kong registered company.

domgilberto

Anyone have any ideas?

Thrugelmir

The fact that you are responsible tax sounds as if you may be regarded as being (technically) self employed. Difficult to see how your contract of employment can accord with UK employment law either.

dgtazzman

Somewhat similar.

I am a UK resident (EU national) that is paid in EURO by a Dutch company (also no UK subsidiary). And have successfully gotten mortgage offers on 2 occassions from Nationwide in the last few years (last one after the tighter regulations came into force).

Several key points:

- are your wages paid directly into a UK bank account by your employer and can you show a history of this happening?
- do you have at least 3 years worth of SA302's available from HMRC and can you show you have paid all taxes due and nothing is outstanding?
- Will the company your work for confirm your employment status to the lender?

If yes to the above, you should be fine, but I would advise using an independent mortgage adviser, as it won't be a straightforward application. Going directly to HSBC is probably one of the worst things you could have done, as they are regarded as a very picky lender.

My mortgage advisers have always had me treated as self-employed for the underwriting process, using the above to show all due taxes had always been paid, a stable employment history and to satisfy money laundering criteria. It is important however that your wages get paid directly into your bank account. Of course, there might well be differences as my money is coming from within the EU...

They will use the GBP income figures from your SA302's to calculate your maximum mortgage. I think some will average the figures over the last few years, while others will use the lowest figure from the last 3 years.

P.S. you might also want to register for HMRC online as last time Nationwide asked me for my SA302's and printouts from HMRC online to back them up (which was odd, as it is in essence the same information).

questionss

We applied via HSBC in different circumstances but definitely out of the usual circumstances. We were really pleased that they looked deeply IMO our situation as individuals rather than "computer says no" answers we got elsewhere. BUT they are conservative, they went through everything with a fine toothcomb.
In our case our deposit is very substantial, and affordability should not be an issue, we aren't stretching unreasonably (approx 2.2x combined income but with 3kids), my other half had just 1 year of accounts for his business and the majority of our income for the last 2 year was euros with residency in another country although we also had self assessments for a few uk earnings. We had a preapplication meeting with their in-house mortgage guy and I took loads of paperwork he then spoke to the underwriters to see if it was worth us submitting a full application & to find out if they needed anything extra.

YAbY

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Who are you employed by , the HK operation ? Or a UK subsidiary.

I'm tempted to ask if the op is employed by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation!

R0551

Have a look at HSBC expat (Jersey). I know people who have used them recently in similar circumstances. From experience they are not as bad as people make out.

Thrugelmir

YAbY wrote: »

I'm tempted to ask if the op is employed by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation!

They've a UK operation.

amnblog

This market is shrinking fast.


Lenders hate non UK tax payers and 'neither employed or paid in GBP' applicants even more.


Our friends at the EU are further kicking this market into touch with the new mortgage credit directive rules in 6 weeks time which has had a number of lenders blocking foreign currency mortgages.


If HSBC say no, engage a specialist mortgage broker and engage one fast.