Doctors & NHS Mortgages Guide
Working in the public sector and especially as a Doctor or Medical Professional can be stressful and ensuring you receive the right advice at the right time for your mortgage is key to ensuring you have a successful mortgage application.
As a medical professional there can be a number of hurdles or challenges when trying to obtain a mortgage; we’ve highlighted a few below:
Fixed Term or Short Term Contracts
For medical professionals or those working in the NHS, it is very common for these roles to be on fixed term contracts. There are also forms of secondment or temporary roles. Some mortgage lenders require a certain level of experience or history in a line of employment if taking income from a contract, or they’d expect it to have been renewed at least once. This isn’t always the case and often requires an Expert intervention to check you are applying to the right lender and presenting it in the right manner with the right evidence.
When obtaining a mortgage for these roles and contracts it’s key to speak to a Mortgage Expert that can advise you on the most suitable mortgage lender to avoid applying to lenders that won’t accept a certain contract. Often mortgage lenders’ policies are difficult to understand or complex and require an expert to understand these fully and in some cases have these bespokely agreed by an underwriter prior to application.
Short term history of higher earnings as a Junior Doctor
If you’ve just qualified as a junior doctor and only started a new role or maybe even haven’t started your junior doctor role but would like to purchase a property where you will be based.
There are a number of lenders that can consider a mortgage based on a contract of employment showing basic salary and hours of work etc. In some cases the mortgage lender can consider approving this mortgage 3 months prior to the new role or contract starting.
Complexity or Income Consistency
In some roles within the NHS or as a medical professional requires to work on an ad-hoc basis, perhaps in a number of different hospitals or practices. This often can mean:
- Income derived from a number of different sources
- Multiple contracts
- Breaks in income
- Some self-employed and employed income
As a result of the above it’s fundamental you work with a Mortgage Expert that can review the whole picture and work with a lender that takes a pragmatic approach assessing the situation for a longer period of time. Our Mortgage Experts understand how lenders review and can ensure it’s presented in the right manner with the right evidence.
Locum Doctors & Nurses
As a Locum Doctor or Nurse, often the view is they struggle to get mortgages, largely due to the above statements around complexity or income consistency. We can help, as long as we can show and evidence a track record, we’ll tell you what we need to support you in a successful application.
There are a variety of scenarios from 1, 6 or 12 month history to how you are paid ie. taxed at source with payslips or self-employed HMRC tax returns over a longer period of time.
What are Professional Mortgages?
Professional Mortgages are mortgages exclusively available to those with professional careers, these can provide a number of benefits to the borrower due to lenders deeming these individuals lower risk and often with increasing income year-on-year. These are available via a few different lenders namely Scottish Widows (Lloyds Banking Group), Clydesdale (Virgin Money) and Kensington Mortgages for specialist professionals. These mortgages are available for the following professionals:
- Medical Doctors
- Dentists
- Vets
- Lawyers
- Solicitors
- Barristers
- Engineers
- Teachers
These mortgages normally require you to be actively practising and registered with a relevant governing body.
A Professional Mortgage can give you the access to the following:
- Better rates of interest than the lenders standard range
- Flexibility of underwriting with bespoke mortgage underwriting; this can alleviate some of the above challenges and hurdles. For example: able to understand and accept locum income
- Higher loan to value products giving access to lower deposit mortgages and getting you onto the ladder faster
- Access to higher level of income multiples allowing you to buy the home you really want to perhaps living closer to your place of work which may be more expensive to live ie. central city locations
- Offset mortgages can be beneficial for professionals that are saving for tax or other emergency funds and utilise these funds to offset against mortgages.
- Exclusive mortgage rates that are only available to professionals on improved rates than the lenders standard range of products or in some cases lower arrangement fees
In some cases professionals will fall into HNW category, especially borrowing over £750,000, this opens-access to private banks. See our HNW Guide.
Speak to a Mortgage Expert
Often mortgages for NHS Doctors and Nurses, or private banks require a Mortgage Expert access as these lenders are rarely found in a google search to execute an application yourself. Therefore it’s a good idea to speak to one of our Mortgage Experts and we can advise on professional mortgage arrangements.