Applying for a mortgage even if you are a conventional salaried employee can be a nerve-wracking experience. If you are self-employed, then the process can require another level of bureaucracy, as you need to supply the necessary documentation for the lender to make their assessment of your income and affordability. If you are further hampered by adverse credit of any sort, then the task could seem impossible, and you may sadly be turned down for a mortgage by more than one lender.

The news is that all is not lost. There are indeed mortgages available for self-employed people with items of bad credit on their reports, you just need to know who to approach, and what they will be looking for in an applicant. Even though mainstream high street lenders will shy away from dealing with people in your position, there is a whole sector of the mortgage market that is not accessible to the general public, with smaller lending companies who are willing to extend home loans to people with instances of bad credit, even if they are self-employed.

These mortgages are geared up to meet the borrower’s individual needs, and will come with criteria that look beyond the usual credit rating scores. Often, these mortgages are underwritten manually, rather than being dictated by a computer algorithm, with lenders taking into consideration all relevant factors. Depending on your circumstances, this could be projected business accounts, dividend income, confirmed contracts and retained profits as well as the nature of your bad credit, the length of time since it occurred and how you have managed your borrowing in the interim. If it’s been two or three years since the adverse credit event, then lenders are often flexible, but if you’ve had bad credit within the last six months, then we have to say it’s unlikely you will be offered a deal.

The downside is that you might have to endure a slightly higher interest rate to reflect the element of added risk, but with markets constantly shifting and remaining very competitive, it should be that you’ll still find a deal that is easily affordable.

It can seem very much like an uphill battle. The amount of effort you need to make to meet lenders’ affordability criteria, convince them that you have a stable income and show how you are a reliable borrower can be daunting to say the least, and can test the resolve of even the most ardent potential homeowner.

Whether you’ve suffered bankruptcy, County Court Judgments, IVAs or simply have a few missed payments on your credit file – and whatever the details of your business – it’s likely that we will be able to find a mortgage for you, or at the very least offer advice on how to put yourself in a stronger position when applying. It’ll all depend on how long ago any infringements happened (if they were in the last 6-12 months, then it is likely to be too recent for lenders to consider a mortgage), what you have done in the meantime to improve your credit rating, and the stability of your income (in whatever form it takes).

At IMC Mortgage Brokers, we have helped countless numbers of people in difficult circumstances, including self-employed people with bad credit, to obtain a mortgage to meet their needs, even when they had been previously turned down by mainstream lenders. We are able to spot exactly where your problems lie and from there work out a plan to present your application in the best light before identifying precisely which lenders will be able to offer you the most favourable deal to suit your requirements. Get in touch today, one of our team will be happy to talk things over.

Items of bad credit on your files, making you look like a higher risk in the eyes of lenders, can be a sticking point for many people applying for a mortgage. If you are also self-employed, then your position could be even more challenging. Your options for a mortgage deal are likely to be more limited and many lenders may only be willing to extend a mortgage at a higher interest rate than normal in order to counter the perceived added risk, especially if the bad credit occurred during the last year. This could be a big stumbling block for a lot of self-employed potential borrowers.

This said, rates for mortgages for self-employed people with bad credit are often shifting. With more lending companies entering the market – positioning themselves to appeal to niche-market business, offering more and more flexible terms and making sure their deals are always competitive – you might find that the interest rate on a self-employed mortgage with bad credit might not be as challenging as you would have thought.

To help your mission to get a reasonable rate on your mortgage, you can often use other factors to offset your adverse credit and self-employed status. Supplying three years’ worth of full, certified accounts showing a regular income as well as evidence of ongoing work will definitely help your case. A clean recent credit history will also weigh heavily in your favour, as lenders are more concerned with your current position than that in the past. And, of course, having a larger-than-usual deposit will also go a long way to allaying a lender’s concerns and encourage them to offer a reasonable interest rate.

Obviously, with bank lending rates fluctuating, new deals becoming available all the time and bespoke deals more and more common, it’s impossible to provide a list of likely rates here. Please get in touch with us to find out exactly what your options would be for a self-employed mortgage with bad credit, and we’ll be able to show you the most favourable rates on the mortgage to meet your needs.

You may have already discovered that, barring one or two very mild issues from three or more years ago, most mainstream lenders will shy away from your mortgage application if you have any instances of bad credit on your reports, especially if you are self-employed. Some may simply turn you down flat for any hint of bad credit. Mainstream or high street lenders assess potential borrowers on quite narrow criteria – often just the score obtained from a check via the three main credit agencies – anyone falling outside of the easiest type of applicants will get a ‘no’.

To get a mortgage if you are self-employed with bad credit, you’ll need to work with one of the many specialist mortgage lenders who cater to people with poor credit histories. The credit crunch of 2008-9 forced banks and high street lenders to become far more cautious about who they lend to, excluding higher risk applicants like self-employed people with bad credit from the mortgage market. Since then, several new lenders have entered the market to meet the needs of those suffering from previous adverse credit.

These lenders will take a much wider view of your circumstances, often giving far more weight to your current financial status and recent credit history, and will take many more factors into consideration than just your credit score. They will look at your employment status and the adverse credit event in context, and will also take note of your activities since that time – everything you may have done to put yourself on a firm financial footing, how your business has improved and any steps you have taken to repair your credit rating.

These specialist lenders do not advertise outside of the industry, you won’t see them on the high street and their products will not appear on any ‘best buy’ lists. They only accept mortgage applications through a trusted mortgage broker, such as ourselves here at IMC Mortgage Brokers, in order to ensure that the borrower/client is the right fit for their product, and vice versa. Get in touch with us today to find out more.

High street mortgage lenders are simply not in a position to offer the flexible type of assessment or products appropriate for a self-employed person with bad credit. This being the case, it’s almost certain that you will need the help of a trusted broker, such as ourselves here at IMC Mortgage Brokers, to apply to a specialist lender for the most suitable mortgage deal to meet your needs. As experienced experts, we understand all the issues around both self-employment and bad credit and, with our in-depth knowledge of the market, we’ll know exactly which lender to approach to obtain the right product for you.

We’ll take time to go over your individual circumstances, getting to understand your financial history and your future business prospects, what the issues you had in the past and how your position has improved since, and finally give you our appraisal of the options open to you. We’ll outline what you can expect from your mortgage, and the steps you’ll need to take next to secure it. With over 12,000 mortgages from over 90 lenders to choose from, including deals you won’t find on the high street – often on an exclusive basis – we are confident that you’ll be able to get the right deal, no matter how difficult it might seem.

Doing your own research into all the lenders and products that might be available to you can take a huge amount of time, and you will only see the lenders who work with the general public, who unfortunately typically won’t have the know-how or willingness to handle applicants with bad credit. Discussing your mortgage aims with an independent expert will reveal a complete picture, you’ll get the impartial advice you need in order to make the best decisions going forward and help with how to frame your application for the best chance of success

Contact our team here at IMC Mortgage Brokers for an initial no-obligation consultation at no cost to you. We’ll be happy to see how we can help – let us do the hard work for you!

So, if you have a history of bad credit and are looking to obtain a Shared Ownership mortgage, speak to IMC Mortgage Brokers today for free initial advice and no-obligation quotes from our team of experienced bad credit brokers.