Mortgages for Professionals
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Mortgages For Professionals with complex incomes through the main high street lenders
High street lenders typically provide more appealing rates, making them the preferred choice for many professionals seeking mortgage solutions. However, navigating the complexities of professional incomes can present challenges in securing loans from these lenders.
Professionals often assume they must seek alternative lenders due to the intricacies of their income streams. Yet, armed with a deep understanding of various payment structures, we confidently facilitate successful mortgage applications with high street lenders.
In fact, a substantial 93.4% of our mortgage applications are seamlessly processed through reputable high street lenders, showcasing our expertise in navigating complex income scenarios.
Mortgage for Professionals
What is a professional mortgage? Is there a specific product for professionals?
There are a number of lenders that will offer different mortgage terms for professionals. What those professions include can be quite narrow or quite wide-ranging.
Those that offer professional mortgages tend to offer one of two benefits – either better interest rates or enhanced affordability. That’s generally where the benefit is achieved through a professional mortgage product.
Do professionals get better mortgage rates?
Yes, despite mentioning better rates, the lenders that have professional products might be slightly more on the fringe – they’re not quite mainstream lenders.
They’re offering better rates than they would to non-professional customers. The bigger advantage for professionals is the potential for higher borrowing capability.
Is it easier for professionals to get a mortgage?
I would say yes. If you’re putting down your occupation as a professional – for example a doctor – that gains you a lot of points in credit-scoring with lenders. They’d much rather be lending to professional applicants than non-professionals, because their incomes are greater and careers tend to be more stable and safer.
Who do mortgage lenders count as professionals?
This is quite a long list from one of the lenders: Accountants, architects, barristers, chartered surveyors, dentists, engineers, financial advisors, medical doctors, nurses, optometrists, pharmacists, pilots, police officers, solicitors, teachers and vets.
Some don’t go as far as that. Police officers and nurses may not be on the list with some lenders. But that’s a thorough list of those that potentially qualify for a professional mortgage.
I’ve recently graduated – can I get a mortgage?
Yes, if you have an income. I’m presuming here that you’ve graduated into a professional role – as a solicitor, barrister, lawyer, doctor, dentist – whatever it might be.
If you’ve done that, you’re certainly going to be able to get a mortgage because you now have an income. There’s every chance you could get a professional mortgage if that’s the most appropriate one to go for.
Can I get a mortgage as a PhD student?
Yes, because there is still the potential for some income there. If you have an income, there’s the ability to get a mortgage.
It probably won’t be a professional mortgage in those circumstances, and because of the level of income, I doubt it would be a very big mortgage. But there is the possibility.
How much deposit do I need for a mortgage as a professional?
You would have the same rules as a non-professional. A lot of things can affect the required deposit, and the biggest one is purchase price. Once you go above £500,000, the number of lenders that will work with a 5% deposit starts to diminish.
Many at that point will require you to have at least 10%. But below half a million, a 5% deposit is acceptable.
There are some other little quirks. If you’re buying a new build house or flat, some lenders will want a 10% deposit or more. There are some schemes that allow for less than a 5% deposit at the time we’re recording in August 2025, and these are quite unique.
The bigger your deposit, though, the better the interest rate. It’s therefore helpful to get as big a deposit as possible because it’s going to give you a better deal.
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How much can I borrow with a professional mortgage?
One of the benefits of a professional mortgage is enhanced affordability. The normal calculation in the market is about 4.5 times your income, presuming you’re taking a mortgage over 25, 30 or 35 years.
I’m also assuming that you have a deposit of at least 10% or 15%, because affordability can reduce with a lower deposit or shorter term.
So 4.5 times is the starting point, but professionals can easily push that to five, 5.5 or quite probably six. Some lenders go further, but they are definitely more specialist. I’ve seen some advertise that they can do seven times income – but in practice that is extremely difficult to get.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of getting a mortgage as a professional?
There aren’t any drawbacks. You are definitely getting a head start with lenders that want to lend to those clients.
I do appreciate that some professionals’ income can be more complicated. It’s not a drawback of being a professional, but a complex income or being viewed as self-employed might have an effect.
The advantages are potentially better rates from some lenders than they normally offer. There’s also the ability to get a greater amount based on affordability.
Generally, a professional is on a rapidly increasing income – it’s going to go up. So lenders use some of the future anticipated income and lend against it now. A doctor is a good example, where the income over the first five to ten years is going to increase quite rapidly.
Somebody not in a professional role would still get salary increases, but at a slower rate, so lenders base it purely on today’s income.
Can I get a mortgage as a professional if I have debt?
Absolutely. It’s not unusual for a professional to have an element of study debt – university fees, student loans etc. That debt generally correlates to your income. In fact, you have to earn a certain amount before you make payments on a student loan.
Lenders view student debt as good debt. It’s related to your income and it’s the reason you’re now professionally qualified.
With most lenders you can get away with a certain level of debt repayments per month before it starts to limit how much you can borrow. Somebody who earns £50,000 a year and has a £100 monthly loan payment can probably borrow the same amount as somebody on £50,000 a year with no loan payment.
If those repayments on the debts reach a certain proportion of your income, they can start to reduce what you can borrow – but you can still get a mortgage.
Can professionals who are self-employed get a mortgage?
Absolutely. A professional self-employed solicitor is going to be preferable to a lender than a self-employed bricklayer or car mechanic.
Obviously, you still fall into the same self-employment rules, which normally mean you need a two-year track record of income. We can get away with less, perhaps one year, at times.
Let’s be honest, the self-employed are sometimes treated as second-class citizens by lenders, but a self-employed professional will be treated a little better.
Can I get a Buy to Let mortgage as a professional?
The simple answer is that you can – but I would argue that there’s no difference for a professional. Buy to Lets are primarily underwritten against the rental income, and your professional standing doesn’t have a huge influence on that.
Buy to Let mortgages are still credit-scored by the lender. Being a professional will get you more points, but 90% of the decision-making on Buy to Let is around the rental income so it doesn’t matter what you do for a living. I’ve never seen a professional Buy to Let product.
How should I prepare to get a mortgage as a professional? How can a mortgage broker help?
Within the more common professions, you have to register with a professional body. For solicitors it’s the Law Society, doctors with the General Medical Council, etc.
Lenders that offer specific professional products will often check those registers. They may alternatively ask for proof of your registration.
I gave a long list of professions earlier, some of which won’t have specific bodies. In that case, lenders fall back on payslips. For a teacher, for example, they would expect to see payslips from a school or education authority.
Some lenders have professional products for newly qualified professionals. There may be a time limit – where you can apply within five or ten years of qualifying. If you’re getting near to that limit and need to access that kind of mortgage, don’t delay.
After that deadline, you’re going to be left with normal mortgage underwriting – which is not necessarily a problem. It means you’ve probably got a long track record and you’ve reached the pinnacle of your earning capability. But if you do need that enhancement, it’s good to be aware of those time bars.
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.
THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY DOES NOT REGULATE MOST BUY TO LET MORTGAGES.