Just gone self-employed. Advice needed!

memecoughlin

Hello,

I would be very grateful for some advice on our situation. My husband was made redundant last november and so he set up his own Limited Company which happens to be doing very well. I went on maternity leave in March and will be off for the rest of the year and so my husband's income is what we are using to pay our mortgage. We have a five year fixed mortgage- repayment- with C&G (4.79%) which comes to an end on 31 June this year!

Initially, I was thinking that if we stuck with C&G, we would not need to provide any accounts - it would be a simple matter of choosing a new product. (As my husband has only been trading since January this year, he will not have two years accounts to qualify for a self certified mortgage, and so changing lender seemed to be out of the question). However, C&G's fixed rates seem to be going up on a weekly basis.

Would another lender touch us with a barge pole? Or would we need to jump through loops and hoops to get a better mortgage deal?

Thank you for reading!

chriz1000

He won’t need to provide 2-3 years worth of accounts with a self certified mortgage unless the rules have suddenly changed, or he’s enquiring through a very particular lender. The reason self cert exists is when you own your own business and can’t prove you are earning as much as what you actually are, which sounds like the ideal product for your situation. Speak to a whole of market broker and see what they say. If you have a couple of good years of accounts behind you there are some much better products on the market.

_Andy_

Broadly speaking, self-cert rates and fees are going to be higher than staying with C&G (as you're already with them they won't need to re-underwrite your mortgage).

memecoughlin

Thank you Andy, I thought that this might be the case.
One more question- would it be reasonable to ask our existing lender for a better deal than what they are advertising or would they consider this to be cheeky and say no?

Is it worth a try?

Tiddler_2

I doubt they would negotiate on the deals. Also you should be able to book the deal now - you don't usually have to wait for your current deal to finish.

With regard to self-cert mortgages in the majority of cases they do still expect you to have been trading for 1 year. The odd ones that do "1 day trading" mortgages will be charging the much higher rates.

_Andy_

memecoughlin wrote: »

Thank you Andy, I thought that this might be the case.
One more question- would it be reasonable to ask our existing lender for a better deal than what they are advertising or would they consider this to be cheeky and say no?

Is it worth a try?

Not worth asking, mortgage rates aren't negotiable.

C&G recently re-price (upwards) their rates so the best bet would be to get on the phone to arrange the new product soon to it's secured.

Conrad

You can legally apply to lenders that do a version of self cert called FAST TRACK, where you get prime ordinary rates but the lenders reserve the right to ask for proof of income at any time.

Lenders that operate this include;

Abbey
Nationwide (very fussy)
Halifax
One Account
IF
Standard Life

I would think you may fair better going via a broker, but beware, many are tied into compliance networks such as Sesame, Legal & General and Home Of Choice, and these networks often request proof of income even where a lender does not.

As such you might want to try a broker that is not a network member.

_Andy_

If they put down he's been SE since November it's not going to pass Fasttrack

memecoughlin

THANK YOU for all of your replies. I reserved a deal with C&G this morning...