One in six Britons say they were declined for a mortgage because they run their own business, according to a survey.
Adding to the 17 per cent of business owners who failed to get a home loan, 15 per cent of sole traders, and 14 per cent of directors of limited companies, claim they were turned for a mortgage because of their jobs.
The survey, by specialist mortgage broker platform Haysto, comes after a record year for mortgage applications.
Earlier this month, data showed the number of mortgages approved by banks and building societies for home purchases leapt to 105,000 in November.
This was the highest figure for 13 years, after a collapse in industry figures brought on by the pandemic in the first half of last year saw home loans bounce back in the final six months, spurred by the government’s stamp duty holiday introduced last July.
Being rejected for a mortgage “can have a devastating impact”, with 31 per cent of those asked saying they were “left feeling depressed”, and 29 per cent claiming “they were treated unfairly”.
A further 10 per cent added that being turned down for a home loan “impacted their relationship.”
More than a third of those asked refused to even put themselves through the mortgage process.
Thirty-five per cent of Britons “feel they couldn’t get a good mortgage deal for themselves wouldn’t want to go through the stress of applying or are unlikely to apply at all for fear of being rejected,” said the poll, which interviewed 2,000 people.
Haysto co-founder Paul Coss says: “There are just under five million self-employed people in the UK and we don’t think it’s fair that mortgages should be more difficult if you choose to earn your living this way, especially as COVID has impacted the self-employed so much in the last year already.”
Coss adds: “Getting a mortgage when you’re self-employed can be difficult, as mortgage lenders tend to prefer people in full-time employment because it’s easy and simple to understand their income. Being self-employed, your income isn’t as straightforward, and people shouldn’t be penalised for that.”
