How I helped clients with tricky situations

A registered nurse came to me wanting to buy. A large part of her income came from overtime, which is common in nursing.

Lenders treat overtime very differently. Some only count part of it, some need a long history of it, and some leave it out altogether, which can leave someone borrowing well below what their real income supports.

I compared how different lenders assess overtime and shift income, and matched her with a lender whose policy could count all of her regular overtime.

I gathered the payslips and income history that lender needed up front, so the application went in complete.

A couple had signed a contract to buy their home with a 14-day finance clause. One of them ran a business that had been trading for less than 12 months.

They had already been declined by a big bank. Many lenders want to see at least one or two years of trading history before they will count self-employed income.

I focused on lenders whose policy will consider a newer business in the right circumstances, rather than lenders that require a longer trading history.

With the clock running on the finance clause, I kept the application moving with the lender.