The eBook covers a number of topics in order to support advisers’ work with the self-employed.
Paradigm Mortgage Services has launched an eBook for advisers entitled ‘Lending to the self-employed’.
Written with involvement from Pepper Money and Precise Mortgages, the free eBook aims to help advisers better understand their self-employed clients so they are able to more easily find a solution for their needs.
The eBook covers a number of topics in order to support advisers’ work with the self-employed including the demographic of the self-employed marketplace and how to write a good business rationale.
Paradigm said it wants to help advisers work effectively with their self-employed clients and to be able to use their accounts and financial data so as to best present them to lenders.
It believes by doing this, the lender will be able to make a more calculated lending decision, giving advisers a far greater chance of securing mortgage funds for their client.
This eBook comes on the back of significantly increased demand for Paradigm’s Mortgage Helpdesk service, where self-employed cases account for a growing percentage of the enquiries made to the team.
Paradigm report the Mortgage Helpdesk saw its busiest ever month of enquiries in October.
Paradigm are making the eBook available to the wider intermediary market, and not just to its existing membership.
Paradigm also has other free eBooks available to download covering mortgage fraud, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime and customers experiencing vulnerability.
Christine Newell, mortgage technical director at Paradigm Mortgage Services, said: “At the end of last year, according to the ONS, there were five million self-employed people in the UK.
"Given what has happened during 2020 and the pandemic’s impact on the jobs market, our expectation must be that the number of self-employed people will continue to rise and advisers are likely to see more and more self-employed mortgage clients.
“We believe this eBook will be an extremely valuable resource for intermediaries at a time when finding the right lending solution for the self-employed has become increasingly difficult due to lenders regularly changing criteria, LTV levels, and affordability assessments for this particular demographic.
"Advisers are finding that the route through to a mortgage for the self-employed has become much trickier in 2020, and at Paradigm we wanted to help outline why that might be the case, and what advisers can do to smooth this path.
“Understanding the particular circumstances, needs and financial situation for self-employed borrowers is an absolute must, as is the ability to present the very best picture to lenders in order that they might make the best lending decision possible.
"This free eBook aims to do just that and to help advisers work through what can be a very different borrower situation with multiple incomes, company set-ups, employment practices, and the potential for a greater level of complexity than ‘mainstream’ borrowers.
“We would urge any adviser who works with self-employed clients, or is looking to work more closely with this growing borrower cohort, to download the eBook and to contact us if they have any queries in this area.”
