Tier 2 Mortgages for Foreign Nationals

Mortgage lenders if I have a Tier 2 Visa

Lenders will look at three key general factors when considering your mortgage application:

• The information you provide about yourself and your personal circumstances – You’ll find most lenders use their own points-based scoring system to determine how much of a risk (or not!) you present as a borrower. They’ll consider aspects such as your age, how long you have been in the UK, the length of time you have lived at your current address, how long you have been in your current employment, any dependants, and so on.
• An assessment of your ability to afford the mortgage repayments – This is probably the most important factor that a lender will consider. All lenders are obliged legally to check that borrowers can afford to keep up monthly mortgage payments. If they perceive that this is not the case, then it’s likely they will decline your application. They’ll look at your commitments and verify your income against bank statements, payslips or tax documents.
• Information obtained from external credit reference agencies – Lenders will be likely to check all three of the main credit reference agencies in the UK: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Each holds information about your history of credit and borrowing, from any loans to credit cards, store cards, utility bills, phone accounts, overdrafts, etc, and will include notes of any missed or late payments, defaults and disputes.

Will lenders reject me because of a Poor Credit history?

A bad credit history can result from a number of events, of varying degrees of importance. Some items that will contribute towards a poor credit score will be:

• County Court Judgements – known as CCJs, these are when someone has taken action against you to recover money after one or more missed payments and a court has made an order for you to pay the money.
• Defaults – when you have missed payments or simply failed to meet the conditions or your obligations on a loan agreement, for example: not meeting mortgage repayment instalments.
• Individual Voluntary Arrangements – known as IVAs, these are when you will have entered into a formal plan to repay monies owed to one or more parties, usually taken out as a way to avoid bankruptcy.

It’s true that past credit issues can make it more difficult to obtain a mortgage, but there are ways to put your credit history in better light, and it’s by no means impossible to get a mortgage with a poor credit record. There are lenders, particularly specialist lending companies who you will not see on the high street or online, who take a broader view of an applicant’s credit history and accommodate people with black marks on their record.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the older the bad credit events are the less weight they will carry with a lender, and as your credit records only cover the last six years, anything older than that will not appear.

At The Mortgage Centres, we have a great deal of experience in helping people with a poor credit history to obtain a mortgage, even those who are also living and working in the UK on a Tier 2 visa. You may have unfortunately defaulted on payments on an unsecured line of credit and your visa may have less than six months remaining, but we have successfully secured a mortgage for people in this position and similar in the past, often securing more favourable terms that you would have expected even without the bad credit problem.

Thanks to our great relationships with lenders from across the spectrum of the UK mortgage market, we have access to ranges of products that you will not find advertised or featured on lists, and are often able to obtain deals, rates or terms on an exclusive basis.

Foreign National Mortgages

You do not necessarily need to have a Tier 2 visa to get a mortgage in the UK. Mortgage agreements for foreign nationals in general usually follow very similar criteria. Lenders will normally require you to have been resident in the UK for at least two (or in some cases three) years, to be in permanent employment in this country and to have a UK-based bank account. They will also expect you to have an appropriate work permit, if necessary, or permanent residency rights in the UK.

Foreign nationals on a Tier 1 visa often have greater advantages than those on Tier 2 visas, as they are usually in possession of greater capital and will be looking at more exclusive or expensive properties. This will allow them to access a broader range of lenders, including private banks and specialist lending companies, and more favourable deals and rates. Those on a Tier 1 visa typically include:

• Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa – for individuals with at least £50,000 investment funds to set up and/or run a business in the UK.
•  Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa – for individuals who are emerging or recognised leaders in a particular field and endorsed by the Home Office.
• Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) – for graduates with a genuine and credible business idea who have been officially endorsed by either the Department for International Trade or a UK higher education institution.
• Tier 1 (Investor) visa – for individuals with investment funds of £2,000,000 or more to apply within the UK.

Tier 5 visa holders (foreign nationals working in the UK in charities, religious institutions or as part of a Government-sanctioned exchange) are considered by lenders to be temporary workers and so would be unlikely to be granted a mortgage in the UK.

Mortgage advice for Foreign Nationals

If you meet all the criteria put forward by a lender, then you should be able to obtain a mortgage as a holder of a Tier 2 visa in the UK. However, the process of applying for a mortgage can sometimes seem like a minefield for anyone applying for a mortgage.

At The Mortgage Centres we have a team of highly experienced advisers, including specialists in mortgages for foreign nationals on Tier 2 visas – even those where the visa is due for renewal or your credit history may include some adverse credit events. We’ll be able to identify exactly the right mortgage lender and product to meet your needs and help with every part of the application to give it the best chance of success.

Feel free to give our expert team a call to arrange a no-obligation consultation, which will quickly determine what your options are and how much you could expect to borrow.