Seafarer / Non-Standard Mortgage App?

thirtytoseventy

Hello All

Lurker here, just seeing if anyone has any specialist know-how or similar experience to my situation.

I work away at sea, UK company, resident h ere and do my tax returns here. Paid in £, monthly, but it's not an evergreen contract i.e. I get paid when I work. However, it's a permanent employment on rolling contracts which seems to make a difference. I end up doing somewhere between 8-10 months of each tax year depending on how my holidays fall.

My salary isn't particularly high, say 15-18K a year, however even on that money I have saved 20K in two years due to the benefits of tax-free income and no expenses. There's the paradox - once I get a mortgage I'd be able to overpay crazy amounts, but I'm aware that I am a sketchy prospect for mainstream lenders. I have however read some posts saying "just go in and talk to a mortgage consultant" and others saying "only use a broker".

Can anyone see any major sticking points? I only want to get a place costing around 60K (I am geographically free to live anywhere in the UK). I literally just need a bolthole.

Cheers in advance for any thoughts!

M5captainmac

Hi
I would highly recommend using a broker for this one. I'm in similar circumstances to you, only difference its not a UK company and its a rolling contract but still I found it a lot easier to use a broker and remove the stress. Try and find a specialist that is aware of your industry as it will not be a straight forward mortgage application I'm sure.
Good luck.

thirtytoseventy

Hi M5

Thanks for the reply. That's what I was thinking, I've seen a few so I probably will do that. I just know that folk I work with have got mortgages sorted and honestly I doubt they all used mortgage brokers... it's probably pot luck anywhere else though and I don't want a credit footprint for failed applications.

Cheers!

M5captainmac

I don't work with many UK residents to ask who they used. For me it was more about saving hassle of going it alone, especially since a lot was done when I was at work so knowing a broker was dealing with it and saving me the stress was worth it. Even to the point where I was out of internet coverage on the ship and couldn't arrange a bank transfer to pay the lenders valuation fee, my broker paid it on my behalf from his own pocket - just so it didn't hold up the process, I paid him back as soon as I was able to. On the grand scheme of what you will spend on a house, the brokers fee is a tiny amount by comparison and well worth it in my opinion.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

csgohan4

what ball park figure for a house price are you looking at? You can usually only borrow x4.5 of your own salary

thirtytoseventy

Thanks for the replies

M5 - yeah I was thinking about those logistics too. When I'm on ship I barely remember to text someone back never mind dealing with something complex like that when I'm working every day. Although you may be interested to hear that I called two high street lenders to make prelim enquiries and both of them basically just said they would need a P60 and to see my perm contract but other than that it was relatively standard, which surprised me. In particular one of them went off and spoke to an underwriter in the same building so that came from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

cshohan4 - not much, I'm looking in a cheap part of the country at 1 beds, I have 20K deposit at the ready (would like to use 10-12 of it ideally) so for what I need will probably borrow between 60K and 80K. Only looking to do what I need, rather than push anything to the max. I want my payments to be super low so that I can maintain my globetrotting lifestyle...:D

exiled_red

Mortgage advisor is the obvious option, but does your employer or union (if there is one) have anyone that they work with/recommend for this type of thing? I know some employers/industries do this type of thing. Just a thought.

glennevis

In the OP you mentioned seafarers 'benefit from tax free income'. That is not the case if resident in the UK unless you are away for a year or more, so you might have to set aside some of your income for HMRC.

maninthestreet

Why are you filling in UK tax returns if you don't have to pay tax?

M5captainmac

SED - Seafarers earning deduction is a complex tax area - A year out of UK is not required for a bona fide seafarer as defined by HMRC to qualify for SED however. It is completely different from non resident etc.
It is good to know that the high street lenders are becoming more accustomed to Seafarers - though I don't get a P60 from my employer as they are not UK based. When I went via broker the lender only needed my bank statements and employment contract, plus wage slips to prove my earnings. I provided 12 months worth to broker to prove my annual income (not sure if lender used them all though)

FanDango

Hi

Similar situation. However we have had mortgages before. Because no tax paid, Barclays caculated how much gross (with tax) would have been to achieve that take home net pay.

Trying for new mortgage, Barclays now changed calculations and will only calculate using net, which means technically we can't even afford the house we are in who we already have a mortgage with Barclays on!

Away at sea, trying mortgage brokers and they just don't seem to have a clue about this issue. Trying to contact mortgage companies without using the phone is a nightmare.

Can anyone suggest a specialist broker or mortgage provider?

Thanks.