Study finds self-employed have fewer borrowing options

July 30, 2026 by Brendan O'Neill

Borrowers

A new study shows that self-employed people have fewer borrowing options than those who are in conventional employment.

Mortgage Broker Tools has released data that highlights the borrowing gap between the two. People who are self-employed had a choice of 12 mortgage lenders on average during June. By contrast, people in standard forms of employment were able to choose between 19 lenders during the same month. This means they have over one third more lenders to choose between when looking for a suitable mortgage product.

The data also looked at how many applications had been made using the MBT site in June. Roughly 12% of the total number were submitted on behalf of applicants who are self-employed.

However, the number of self-employed people who could not find a lender they were eligible to apply to was 17%. In comparison, just 12% of employed applicants found themselves in that position.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is currently consulting on changes to mortgage lending rules. These could provide lenders with more flexibility when it comes to applicants with irregular incomes. As this MBT data shows, such a change is something the sector urgently needs.

Tanya Toumadj works for MBT as the chief executive officer. Speaking to Mortgage Soup she said:

“Fewer options doesn’t mean no options, but it does mean accurate research across a wide range of lenders becomes even more necessary to find the right one for that borrower.”

This is the kind of situation where the support of a mortgage advisor with the CeMAP qualification can make all the difference.