We have seen a substantial number of enquiries from customers earning income in Euro’s, Dollars, Swiss Francs and other currencies since the introduction by the EU of the Mortgage Credit Directive in April 2016.
The Directive requires that lenders have to follow additional new procedures if they are to offer mortgages in one currency which is to be repaid by the applicants in another currency. The reason for this was to offer consumers additional rights to help them deal with currency fluctuations.
For example if consumers took a mortgage in Sterling, but were paid in Euro’s then they could end up having to make much bigger mortgage payments and pay back more if Sterling strengthened against the Euro.
As a result of these changes, quite a few lenders have decided they will no longer consider non sterling income when assessing affordability for applications.
However, we do typically assist customers who are paid in Euro’s, Dollars or other currencies obtain a UK mortgage.
The typical scenario’s we have helped with are:
Airline pilots paid in Euro’s
Seafarers who are tax exempt and paid in multiple currencies
Cruise ship workers paid in US Dollars
Customers who work in the Republic of Ireland and live in the UK
Gas, Oil and Engineering contractors who typically have a family residence in the UK and are paid
As a general guide, we can look to assist with a mortgage up to 95% of the property value for customers paid in Euro’s, Dollars and other income as long as they live in the UK.
For customers who live overseas then the maximum mortgage would be 80% of the property value.
The information provided above is a guide only. If you would like to discuss your particular situation with one of our specialist foreign currency mortgage advisers then either send us an enquiry using our online enquiry form or call us on 0203 621 5696 from the UK or +44 203 621 5696 from overseas
