Foreign National Mortgages - Frequently Asked Questions

Hi guys, Dan and Kye at Crescent Mortgages here at Glove Factory Studios as always and we're coming back to you with some of our FAMQ's, which are frequently asked mortgage questions and today's topic is going to be foreign national mortgages.

As always any questions you can leave them in the comments or hit the banner and drop us a message directly and if you could like and subscribe it would be very helpful because the channel is still a baby!

Foreign national mortgages, so, Kye what is a foreign national?

So a foreign national is someone who doesn't have permanent rights to reside in the UK or is a non-UK passport holder.

So essentially someone living in the UK who doesn't have a UK passport or citizenship. Mortgages for foreign nationals in the UK can be a bit tricky compared to someone that's lived here their whole life with a UK passport but it is still possible to obtain a mortgage if you are a foreign national. Now I guess first of all, where do you want to start with this one Kye? I'd probably start with the limitations let's finish on the positives, you know I don't want to put you down. Actually no I will start with a positive.

You do that.

If you have indefinite leave to remain in the UK/permanent residence here and you've lived here for over three years, which usually come hand in hand, then you probably won't have any problems getting a mortgage at all and it should be pretty short straightforward. You'll probably have pretty much every lender to choose from and and you can borrow pretty much up to any loan to value within reason. The limitations usually start to kind of rear their ugly heads on the two most common that we see. Which are tier two visas which are really really common, I'm sure a lot of you watching this may be on a tier two visa or a spousal visa, those two are trickier. If you're on a tier one visa things are a little bit easier and again you probably have quite a few options, but tier 2 or spousal visa, which are the most common that cause issues, that is a bit more tricky. Now how do you think it is going to impact them if they are on a tier 2 visa?

A few things you have to factor in suppose you have the loan to value, so how much deposit you need to put in or how much equity you need to have in your home. You generally need a bigger deposit or better loan to value. I'd say that's probably the biggest one.

No let me let me go.

You so talk so much.

If you are on a tier 2 or a spousal visa and you have a 25% deposit then again you're generally going to have plenty of options. You know every lender will have slightly different criteria in terms of how long you need to have been in the UK or how long you need left on your visa but generally with a 25% deposit you should be okay.

The issues really start to fall when you have a smaller than a 25% deposit so we find if you're on a tier 2 visa or a spousal visa and you have 10%, 15%, 20% deposit the majority of lenders will not do it, but there are a couple of lenders that do specialize in this area. The criteria does change quite frequently but if you have a 10% deposit and you're on a tier 2 visa providing you don't have lots of other criteria limitations which obviously we can check for you if you contact us, there's one or two that will accept the 10% deposit, but generally other than the small handful of lenders 25% deposit does make life a lot easier doesn't it?

Yeah I'd probably add in as well the lenders that you find with the 10% deposit aren't necessarily these quirky lenders with really high interest rates, it does change and at the moment a couple of high street lenders that can do it and and you know in years to come there normally is one or two high street presences so you do still get a pretty competitive rate but I suppose it's one of those reasons to pick up the phone or to talk to someone normally.

You probably won't just be able to walk into your bank and just get it straight away, like some people, you just need to have a little look. Like I say you know it's definitely possible with the 10% deposit but if there are other limitations around your circumstances, let's say affordability is tight or you're buying an unusual property, you have a lot of debt or you know credit problems, then unfortunately that could then rule out, those few lenders that will consider it, it could then rule those lenders out, but you know if everything else is relatively straightforward and comfortable then then it is achievable with those lenders with a 10% deposit and as Kye said there are actually some really decent high street lenders that do it, so you're not necessarily looking at a really small lender with a really high interest rate.

Anything else to add Kye?

No, I think that's it. Bigger deposit and chat to someone.

Yeah speak to a broker and as I think we touched on at the start, we are regulated mortgage brokers so if you have any questions you can leave them in the comments or you can hit the banner shown on the screen somewhere. I'm not sure where Kye, is it going to be at the top? I'm not sure where to put it.

Yeah okay you'll come back to me on that.

That should take you to our website you can drop us a direct message and we'll come back to you to have a conversation in more detail. Have a great day, thanks a lot!