Self Employed Mortgages' new focus is finding mortgages for self employed U.K. professionals

Self Employed Mortgages is a mortgage advisor firm that has aligned its focus on successfully arranging mortgage financing for self employed individuals, who have found themselves facing unreasonably stringent requirements for loan qualification.

When asked what is different about these mortgages, John Yerou, the company's Managing Director, said, "It's not the mortgages that are different, it's the applicants' situation. Our clients are all self employed and as such, their incomes will often fluctuate, making it more difficult to satisfy the income verification standards the FSA has placed on lenders. We have invested, quite literally, thousands of hours in research and negotiation of special income underwriting criteria with a number of High Street lenders, in order to be able to help such independents acquire mortgages."

Yerou went on to explain that the recent regulatory actions by the FSA effectively banned what were called self-cert mortgages, wherein a self-employed individual could simply certify his income level and the lender could accept that. As a result, some loans were made that ultimately couldn't be paid, as a result of exaggeration of income. The new standards require verification, in order to ensure that borrowers can realistically afford to service the mortgage.

"Unfortunately," Yerou added, " the new standards were initially seen as a total ban, causing many lenders to be hesitant to even consider a mortgage for the self employed. As a result, many buyers that were quite capable, financially, were unable to purchase homes. That is what led us to create this special focus and invest so much time and effort in identifying procedures that would satisfy the lenders, the FSA standards and our clients."

Yerou explains that borrowers can now provide financial information that is relevant to their business situation and that as a result of the company's negotiations with the lenders, their eligibility will be evaluated in a fair fashion, in keeping with their true ability to pay.

Yerou also stressed that they realise that their clients find it difficult to spend time away from their business, so they have established a streamlined process to minimize application processing time and face to face meetings. They have access to the key decision makers with the lenders in order to finalise the process as rapidly as possible.

If you are a self employed professional in the U.K., interested in purchasing a property, you can visit their web site at http://www.selfemployedmortgages.com for more information on the company's mortgage advisor services.


Self Employed Mortgages is a Middlesex-based mortgage advisor firm, focused solely on helping self employed U.K. professionals acquire satisfactory mortgages.