Are you self-employed and have recently been declined for a mortgage?
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Why Self-Employed Applications Get Declined
A decline usually says more about the lender criteria than about you. The most common causes we see:
- Trading history too short — the lender required two or three years of accounts and you have fewer.
- Income assessed the wrong way — the lender used drawings or dividends rather than share of net profit, producing a lower figure than the business actually supports.
- A recent change of business structure — incorporating recently, or moving from employment to self-employment, read by some lenders as a break in history.
- Evidence gaps — income presented as net when the lender could have assessed gross, or accounts submitted without the supporting tax year overview.
- Credit history — adverse credit that fell outside the lender tolerance, even where the income was never in question.
In most of these cases the application was capable of succeeding somewhere else. It went to a lender whose criteria did not fit.
What to Do Next
The instinct after a decline is to apply again immediately elsewhere. That is usually the wrong move, because each application adds a credit search to your file and several searches in a short period make the next lender more cautious.
A more productive sequence:
- Establish why it was declined. Lenders do not always give detail, but the criteria they apply are known and the cause can usually be identified.
- Check your credit file for anything you were not aware of, and correct errors before applying again.
- Fix what can be fixed. A missing tax year overview, an overdrawn director loan account or an unclear income presentation are all addressable.
- Choose the next lender on criteria rather than on rate, because the best rate you cannot qualify for is not useful.
If the decline related to how your income was assessed rather than your credit, our One Year Trading Mortgages page and Multiple Incomes page cover the two most common causes.
How to get a mortgage when you’ve recently been declined
We recognise that a generic approach doesn’t work for everyone, particularly for the self-employed.
If you’ve recently been declined for a mortgage, you might feel discouraged that your bank or other mortgage brokers can’t raise the type of loan amount you’re looking for.
Stress no more… we are experts at overcoming the hurdles you’re experiencing and have the winning formula that’s tailored just for you.
Unlike others, our expert team of consultants focus entirely on self-employed mortgages! Day in, day out, we’re helping self-employed individuals secure mortgages after recently being declined elsewhere.
Within your first consultation, your expert will know exactly how to match your application with the right lender for your circumstances.
It’s important to note our application process is completely different too.
We’ll manually underwrite your mortgage before the bank see your paperwork thanks to our impressive in-house underwriting team. They’ll resolve any problems from the start, avoiding any nasty surprises.
It’s time for you to reap the benefits of being self-employed. Not punished.
If you’re ready to secure a mortgage, sit back, relax, we’ll handle everything, so you don’t have to.
Why Work With Us
Here are just a few ways we’re DIFFERENT from other companies
Self-Employed
Specialists
Specialists
In-House
Underwriting
Underwriting
Borrow
More Money
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Recently Declined Mortgage Success Story
After being declined elsewhere, contractor Jagroop and partner Jasmeen secured the best mortgage terms with our expert help. We simplified the process, allowing them to remortgage and start renovating their new home.
The new wave method
Here’s the SIX STEPS to GUARANTEE Self-Employed Mortgage SUCCESS
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Recently Declined
Being declined for a mortgage is stressful! You’re busy juggling your business and this only adds to your list of problems. Our expert Chloe states “it doesn’t have to be that way so don’t get yourself down. There is still hope”
Ask our Experts
Usually the lender criteria did not fit the applicant rather than anything being wrong with the application. Common causes are accounts that do not meet a lender minimum trading period, income assessed on drawings rather than profit, a recent change of business structure, or credit history the lender was not prepared to accept.
Often yes. Lenders do not always give a detailed reason, but the criteria they apply are known to us, so we can usually identify what caused it by comparing your circumstances against what that lender accepts.
The decline itself is not recorded, but the credit search that preceded it may be. Several searches in a short period can affect how the next lender views your application, which is why applying repeatedly without changing anything tends to make the situation worse.
There is no fixed waiting period. What matters is whether anything has changed. Applying again immediately to a lender with similar criteria will usually produce the same result.
Yes. An agreement in principle is based on limited information and is not a commitment to lend. Declines at the full application stage often happen when income is examined properly for the first time, which is why we review the income evidence before submission rather than after.
That changes which lenders are worth approaching, but it does not necessarily rule out a mortgage. Adverse credit is assessed on how recent and how serious it is, and there are lenders who work specifically with applicants in that position.
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