Applying for a mortgage can be stressful at the best of times, but for contractors this presents a wide range of additional challenges to contend with, in large part due to the temporary nature of their working life.
Nevertheless, contractors are offered mortgages every day, therefore this milestone shouldn’t be something to worry about. It may just involve going those extra few steps to ensure you secure the right deal for your situation.
So what can you do to secure a mortgage when contracting? We take a look at some of the steps you should take below:
Know your finances
It goes without saying that your finances should be in the best possible shape to ensure you are an attractive prospect for a mortgage company. Aside from having your ideal deposit in place, prior to making an application it is highly recommended that you check your credit score to ensure that it won’t contain any red flags, as well as getting a clear picture of your outgoings to ensure you can realistically afford your monthly repayments.
Get your paperwork together
Mortgage companies will want to see evidence of your monthly earnings. This will certainly be your payslips for a number of months, but they may also ask for recent bank statements. Like all umbrella contractors working with Exchequer, your payslips may be electronic, however, this will be perfectly acceptable for a mortgage provider.
Keep your contracts close together
One of the biggest reservations that a mortgage provider will have when assessing a contractor for a mortgage will be the temporary status of their contracts, but of course this is part and parcel of being a contractor in the first place. The best way to highlight that you are receiving consistent work is to limit the number of breaks between contracts that you take.
Use the right broker
A mortgage broker will provide their expertise in finding the ideal deal. For contractors, there are specific brokers that have a huge amount of experience in sourcing the right deal for those working on temporary contracts. For the umbrella contractors working with Exchequer, we have recently partnered with CMME Mortgages, contractor mortgage brokers who can support our contractors in any situation, whether they are buying their first home, re-mortgaging, looking for a buy to let or simply moving home.
Contractors working with Exchequer will receive preferential rates on CMME’s services as a result of our partnership. You can learn more about CMME here.
