Taking bonus into account for mortgage purposes

Onwards_and_upwards

My husband gets an annual bonus of at least £12k, which has been proven in his last 4 P60s. Santander were happy to take this into account for our AIP. However, at underwriters stage, they are refusing to include £8k of it, as he is given them in shares, which he can opt to sell or save. He always sells these shares immediately, which can be documented in bank statements.

Has anyone successfully had shares included for mortgage calculations? Our broker is working like mad to see if they can be included, but he doesn't sound hopeful. Our mortgage offer is over £30k less than our AIP because of this ��

Thrugelmir

Onwards_and_upwards wrote: »

which has been proven in his last 4 P60s.

Lenders look forwards not backwards. Bonuses are not a contractually guaranteed payment. If the bonus was not paid is the question lenders will base their decision on. Factoring into account the precise details of your application.

Salemicus

Every lender has their own criteria, and there's not a lot you can do about it. There are some lenders who might be more generous with the bonus money, but they might not be willing to lend you such a high multiple, or not give you as attractive a rate, etc. When we were applying for a mortgage, our lender refused to take into account the 15% of my salary I put into my pension, even though I'm entitled to take it as salary and could do so at any time. It made no sense, but fundamentally you can't force them to lend you money. It's their decision. Fortunately it didn't end up affecting us, but it sounds like it might affect you.

I wish you luck.

amnblog

Might be less about the shares and more about the tax treatment of them.

Onwards_and_upwards

Thank you for the replies, it's just infuriating that the bonus was initially taken into account. Good point re tax amnblog. We'll see what tomorrow brings and whether our broker is able find a way round it!