Would i be able to get a mortgage with a postman job? (details inside)

mattandbenny

So i have an interview to be a postman on Monday - i would love to get it as i currently work in an office which i hate. However the contract (which is hugely in Royal Mail's favour) is the big drawback....

Nowadays for all their postman jobs, they offer the same contract to all new starters - part time (24 hours per week) and 6-month rolling contracts, which get renewed every 6 months. Reading on the royal mail forums, current postman say there is always lots overtime going available and it sounds easy to clock up 40+ hours per week regularly. But the contracted hours are 24 per week on 6 month rolling contract.

The pay works out at the below:

<6 months: £9.36 p/h (40 hr week: £19,470 yearly, 24 hr week: £11,680 yearly)
6-12 months: £9.89 p/h (40 hr week: £20,570 yearly, 24 hr week: £12,340 yearly)
12+ months: £10.40 (40 hr week: £21,630 yearly, 24 hr week: £12,980 yearly)


My girlfriend is in a permanent full time position on around £20k per year. And by the time it comes to looking for a house we will have saved up a £45k deposit. It will be in yorkshire where houses are cheap so we won't need to borrow a huge amount.

Couple of questions:
1) How would this royal mail contract affect an application for a mortgage?
2) How much are we likely to be able to borrow? We were hoping to get a house for 160k - 180k (so hoping to borrow around £115k - £135k) - Would this still be possible?


Many thanks for any help!

ACG

You could get a Mortgage using both incomes but chances are you would need to have had your contract renewed before some lenders would look at it.

I think lower-mddle end of the figures you have quoted should be achievable. Higher end could be also but it would come down to the finer details.

easilydistracted

My partner is on a fixed term contract. It was majorly difficult finding a lender with a reasonable rate before he had been in his job a year. Once he had been in the job one year AND his contract renewed a few more doors opened and we were able to apply to Nationwide, who then repeatedly changed their minds about whether we met their criteria or not. What was even more annoying is that I could afford the mortgage on my income, but most banks were insistent on counting his student loan payment and child maintenance as outgoings to my income, even though both were only due at that rate as he was earning. It was Majorly stressful!

I think Nationwide only accept overtime at a certain percent of income, there's another thread on here about it currently. I found their online calculator pretty reliable.

If you want to go for the postie job I would suggest you need a broker, or better yet switch jobs after the house purchase!

anotheruser

Or just work there for over a year and apply at the second time of contract renewal.
The mortgage lender can see you've been renewed twice, and you'll get a good feel as to what money you'll be averaging at.

nikanika0

I'm a postwoman in mail centre, my contract is permanent 30h/w = £21600, with overtime of £13000 per year, my broker found a deal will Nationwide counting 50% OT into account, but I'm single applicant I need HUGE deposit.

custardy

mattandbenny wrote: »

So i have an interview to be a postman on Monday - i would love to get it as i currently work in an office which i hate. However the contract (which is hugely in Royal Mail's favour) is the big drawback....

Nowadays for all their postman jobs, they offer the same contract to all new starters - part time (24 hours per week) and 6-month rolling contracts, which get renewed every 6 months. Reading on the royal mail forums, current postman say there is always lots overtime going available and it sounds easy to clock up 40+ hours per week regularly. But the contracted hours are 24 per week on 6 month rolling contract.

The pay works out at the below:

<6 months: £9.36 p/h (40 hr week: £19,470 yearly, 24 hr week: £11,680 yearly)
6-12 months: £9.89 p/h (40 hr week: £20,570 yearly, 24 hr week: £12,340 yearly)
12+ months: £10.40 (40 hr week: £21,630 yearly, 24 hr week: £12,980 yearly)


My girlfriend is in a permanent full time position on around £20k per year. And by the time it comes to looking for a house we will have saved up a £45k deposit. It will be in yorkshire where houses are cheap so we won't need to borrow a huge amount.

Couple of questions:
1) How would this royal mail contract affect an application for a mortgage?
2) How much are we likely to be able to borrow? We were hoping to get a house for 160k - 180k (so hoping to borrow around £115k - £135k) - Would this still be possible?


Many thanks for any help!

Your contract wont stay on a permanent rolling basis.
In the main expect the contract to become permanent within 12 months.