Being a self-employed mortgage applicant can be challenging, and these difficulties are only exacerbated when an individual is also living abroad.
Are you a self-employed mortgage applicant looking to finance buy-to-let property in the UK? Whatever your situation, the key to success is being armed with the right knowledge and expert contacts. Our free guides, Maximising your borrowing as an expat or foreign national and Mortgages for self-employed borrowers, can help.
Add the need for a high-value loan into the mix, and it can become almost impossible to secure the borrowing required – unless you have the help of an expert broker, as this client discovered.
The client:
The client in this instance was a British self-employed mortgage applicant. He was earning an excellent salary and was in possession of a global property portfolio.
He was now looking to add to this portfolio with a buy to let investment property in the UK. The property itself was valued at just under £1 million, and he hoped to purchase it with a mortgage on an interest-only basis. Unfortunately, there were several factors at play that meant many lenders would not even consider working with this individual.
In addition to being a self-employed mortgage applicant, this client was also living as an expat in China, and being paid in renminbi. Lenders consider China to be a high-risk country and there are currency controls in place, significantly limiting the lending options available.
This individual also had no current credit profile in the UK, which again made his application problematic in the eyes of many potential lenders. Especially since he was also keen to secure interest-only borrowing, increasing the perceived risk even further.
The solution:
Despite the complexities, we are used to handling this type of case – so we were confident we would be able to assist. Our brokers always keep abreast of changes in the lending market, and strive to maintain excellent relationships with lenders.
In this instance, we approached a building society that had recently expanded their expat lending criteria for certain brokers in their network. As a result, we were able to secure the loan required on an interest-only basis, at a five-year fixed rate of 3.45%.
This was an excellent outcome for this client and clear proof of how crucial having the right lending relationships can be when solving a difficult case.
The case in brief:
- British expat and self-employed mortgage applicant living in China
- Looking for an interest-only mortgage on UK buy to let property
- Five-year fixed term interest-only rate
- Secured with a UK building society