Self employed - getting a mortgage

[sismile]

I had no idea it would be so difficult to get a mortgage. I'm self employed, have been for 8 years. I have full accounts, I don't have any adverse credit.

 

My first problem is some of the lenders are asking for net profit. I take net profit as being my turnover minus VAT and all my business expenses. So it's the figure on my tax return used to calculate my tax. My mortgage broker is saying it's not that figure, but the figure after I have also paid tax & national insurance.

 

Obviously there is a big difference between the two. One will get me a house and one won't!

 

Does anyone here know how the lenders define net profit?

[sowerby17]

he is right that is your net profit after all what you have after you pay tax is what your take home pay would be if you were employed. You could self cert but you will pay a slightly higher interest rate

[nuke em]

Some lenders will do a "self-certify" mortgage , even upto 90% , i would get with a broker who understands this and get him to arrange a mortgage on this basis, Lenders dont understand the self employed!

[silverrocket]

Try Platform, they're a subsidiary of Britannia. They should do 90%, even if you have some adverse.

[Goldlady]

We are with Platform - self employed for many years. And the net profit is before tax and national insurance. But if you do self-cert it should not be an issue.

[silverrocket]

And here was I thinking I was the only one with Platform! Most of my friends (older than I) seem to have managed to get a self-cert with their building society when they took out their mortgage, but that seems to have stopped a few years back.

 

Platform are relatively reasonable, and do offer the facility to make over-payments of upto £1000 per month should you require it. They require bank statements showing your money accruing for your deposit, and some invoices/tax return to prove income over at least a three month period.

[Goldlady]

I don' think we are supposed to promote any particular company on here but I have to say that Platform helped us when things were really bad and GE Money tried to repossess our house on a secured loan. We had our mortgage with Platform and they lent us extra to kick GE into touch - now claiming back £2K of charges from GE - nasty people:mad:

[silverrocket]

Without wanting to break any rules, I can agree with Goldlady; Platform have offered me help in the form of a loan, luckily I didn't need it in the end, but the fact they are willing gives me peace of mind. The staff seemed to truly understand that previous credit problems do not mean that I'm going to end up in the same boat, and treated me with respect - something most companies never do as soon as your credit file shows anything bad.