Self-employed people have had a hard time with mortgages. For years, most lenders have used strict lending criteria including proof of income, several years’ accounts and a minimum age for the business (usually two or three years). We’ve been hoping to see more competition for freelancers and creative types for ages, and it looks like there might be some moves in that direction.
For example, Precise Mortgages announced that they’ve completely re-thought their criteria for self-employed buyers. They’re looking for one year of accounts, and have removed the minimum trading period – that is: how long the business has been trading – across their range. They’ve also put their rates out there for self-employed buyers.
Precise’ managing director Alan Cleary said:
“Performance of our mortgage book coupled with evidence collated by our credit team show that the extra information being demanded from self-employed applicants is not justified.
“Self-employed Brits are growing in numbers and play a large part in the much improved employment figures the country is now enjoying.”
Here at Limetree, we like to see more competition generally, but we especially welcome lenders seriously addressing the self-employed sector.
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