Professional Mortgages

Professional Mortgages have been available in the market for the last 7-8 years and offer qualifying professionals a unique mortgage product. A number of lenders now offer these and they are available to a widening range of professionals. Typically these are fully qualified; medical doctors, dentists, accountants, solicitors, vets, pharmacists, teachers, optometrists and barristers.

The key areas which lenders focus on to differentiate their products for this market are:

• No Higher Lending Charge - in the mainstream mortgage market, most lenders charge a Higher Lending Charge if you borrow more than 90% of the property value. With Professional Mortgages however lenders may go up to 95% without charging this fee. This can be very useful if you are a first time buyer and are looking to minimise your costs or looking to raise capital for any purpose. You should be aware when looking at this type of facility however that if the value of your property goes down you could be left in a position where your mortgage is bigger than the value of your house.
• More Flexible Borrowing Limits - rather than sticking rigidly to a salary multiplier e.g. 3.5 X your salary to work out how much you can borrow, lenders will consider your full financial picture, including your age and how quickly your earnings are likely to increase. This can often allow you to borrow more than would generally be available. You should however always be comfortable that you will be able to meet the monthly payments.
• Drawdown Facility for Further Borrowing - most lenders in this market will allow you to put in place a flexible drawdown facility to borrow more money when needed at mortgage rates. This can be extremely useful should you wish to raise money for any purpose such as a deposit for an investment property, to pay for school fees, to help children buy their first home or even for business purposes. You should however ensure you have a repayment plan in place for the additional borrowing.

There are some risks you need to be aware of when looking at products such as this but overall they can be very useful for Professional clients and lenders normally make them available on very good terms due to the lower risk involved in this sector. Although now widely available the products do differ from lender to lender. The Directors of Dedicated Mortgage Solutions have a number of years experience in this market and our expertise can help ensure you get the best deal available. For more information and advice on Professional Mortgages please contact us on 0845 602 5541 or complete our online enquiry form.