Check Your Eligibility for a Mortage

Buying a home is a big step. Before you apply for a mortgage, it’s helpful to understand what lenders look at when assessing your application. Factors like income, spending, and your credit history can all impact how much you may be able to borrow and whether a mortgage is affordable for you.

In this guide, you'll learn about common mortgage requirements  and steps you can take to prepare before applying. We'll also explain how borrowing limits work and how buy-to-let mortgage eligibility differs from residential mortgages. 

What affects mortgage eligibility?

When you apply for a mortgage, lenders want to be confident you can comfortably afford the repayments. These are some of the main mortgage requirements that affect your eligibility:

• Your income
• Your employment status
• Your age
• Your spending and existing financial commitments
• Your credit history
• Your deposit
• The property you want to buy

Mortgage lending criteria

Income

We'll need to understand your income when assessing your application and deciding how much you may be able to borrow.

You will need to show payslips, bank statements and/or HM Revenue & Customs documents to confirm your income and to help make a decision on what size mortgage is sensible for you to take on.

Employment status

We’ll also look at your current employment status as part of your application. If you're self-employed, a contractor or work freelance, we may ask for additional information about your income and business finances to help us assess your application.

Age

You must be at least 18 years old to apply for a mortgage. In most cases, your mortgage must end before your 75th birthday. If your mortgage term goes beyond your planned or State Pension age, we'll usually assess affordability using your expected retirement income.

Outgoings and financial commitments

We'll look at your regular spending as well as your income when assessing your application. This could include existing loans, credit cards, childcare costs, household bills and other financial commitments.

You’ll be asked to confirm any outgoings so we can understand whether the mortgage is affordable for you and whether you're likely to be able to keep up with the repayments.

When considering how much to borrow or how you would like to repay your mortgage, please remember that changes to your personal circumstances or rising interest rates can affect your financial situation.

Credit history

Before you apply for your mortgage, we'll ask for your consent to search the information held about you and your financial arrangements - this is known as a credit check.

This helps us understand how you've managed borrowing in the past, including loans, credit cards and other financial commitments.

Information about you and your financial arrangements may have been shared with credit reference agencies by banks and other financial organisations. We may also use other publicly available information, such as the electoral roll, when assessing your application.

The services of a credit reference agency and also fraud prevention agencies will be used to help assess your application for a mortgage.

Learn more about credit and credit checks

Deposit

Your deposit is the amount of money you put towards buying a property. You’ll usually require a deposit of at least 5% of the property's value, although some buyers choose to save more before applying.

In general, the larger your deposit, the less you'll need to borrow and the lower your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio will be. The size of your deposit may affect the mortgages available to you and how much you can borrow.

Learn more about mortgage deposits.

The property you want to buy 

The property you're buying is an important consideration in your mortgage application. We'll consider factors such as the property's value, type and condition, and we'll carry out a valuation to help us understand how much we may be able to lend against it and whether it meets our lending criteria.

Depending on the type of property you're buying, different lending criteria may apply.

How can you improve your mortgage eligibility?

While every application is assessed individually, there are a few steps you can take to help prepare for a mortgage application.

These include:

• saving a larger deposit 
• reducing existing debts and credit commitments where possible
• making payments on time and avoiding missing bills
• checking your credit history and correcting any mistakes
• avoiding taking on new borrowing before you apply
• making sure your income and spending information is up to date

Taking these steps may help you feel more prepared before you apply for a mortgage.

How much could you borrow?

The amount you could borrow depends on a range of factors, including your income, spending, credit history, deposit and the type of property you want to buy.

We'll assess your overall financial situation to understand how much you may be able to borrow and whether the mortgage is affordable for you.

The type of mortgage you choose can also affect how much you can borrow.