Poll shows self-employed borrowers wish lenders understood more

December 18, 2023 by Brendan O'Neill

Lenders

A new survey of self-employed people in the UK who are keen to buy their own home has found that close to 50% of them wish mortgage lenders understood their financial situations better.

The Mortgage Lender (TML) carried out this survey and roughly 40% of self-employed people stated that they would like more awareness of complicated income situations among the major lenders. In total, more than 1,000 people who are self-employed took part in the survey and a further 38% of them said that applying for mortgages would be easier if there was a greater number of specialist lenders.

When it comes to mortgage advisors, 32% of the self-employed people that TML spoke to said that ones with deep knowledge of self-employment would make for a less difficult application process.

Over one quarter of them told the survey that streamlining the way that financial evidence and documents are collected would help, while more than one third said that reducing the income evidence required would make things easier. Most felt that this should be cut to one or two years’ worth of evidence, rather than two or three as it currently is.

Chris Kirby from TML told Mortgage Solutions that:

“Specialist lenders, like TML, will often take a more pragmatic approach when it comes to assessing a self-employed applicant’s income, therefore offering greater flexibility to those with more complex incomes.”

More of these lenders hitting the market is something that most advisors with CeMAP training would want to see in the current economy.