Richard and Julie, aged 50 and 51, are a married couple with three children still living at home. They’ve built up an established plumbing business over the years. Like many other self-employed applicants, their incomes fluctuate and come from multiple sources.

As a result of poor advice from a rogue accountant, they had a small issue with HMRC around four years ago. This unfortunately left a mark on their credit files, affecting their ability to access some mainstream mortgage options.

They currently live in a four-bedroom family home in Essex, valued at £650,000, with an existing mortgage of £200,000. Now, they’re looking to raise an additional £50,000 on top of that to fund improvements to their property, making it better suited to their growing family’s needs.

Richard has been self-employed for six years and typically earns around £50,000 per annum. However, in the last financial year, his net profit fell to £15,000 after the business made a significant investment in new machinery, a move aimed at securing long-term growth. He also chose not to take any dividends from the business this year, preferring to reinvest the profits.

Julie contributes to the household income by taking a £5,000 dividend from the business, alongside two part-time PAYE roles where she earns £15,000 and £2,500 respectively.

This is exactly the type of case that Foundation was created for. We specialise in supporting borrowers with complex income streams, including the self-employed and those with multiple income sources. We can consider the latest year’s accounts and either net profit or dividends, depending on what works best for the client’s circumstances.

In addition, our product range offers a wide breadth of rates to suit various credit histories, whether your client narrowly misses out on high street lending or has experienced historic credit blips like Richard and Julie. We also allow for capital raising, which means they can access the additional funds needed to improve their family home.

If you’re working on a case like this, give your Foundation regional area manager a call today, we’re always happy to talk a case through and find a way to help.