Now

What’s happening now?

The success of self-cert means that many more lenders now offer mortgages on these terms – there’s more details later of who offers the loans. It means that recently self-employed people have plenty of choice of lender and people who earn an income from a variety of sources and can’t just tick the boxes on a standard application form will also find it easier to get a mortgage. Small business owners whose profits are kept low for tax purposes can also do well out of a self-cert mortgage because it allows them to paint a more realistic picture of their earnings. That’s the good news. The bad news is that another group of people are also being attracted to self-cert mortgages – and there are fears that this might be storing up big problems for the future.