What is more 20% think they would be refused a mortgage if they applied for one because they are self-employed.
Seven in 10 (71%) self-employed people feel discriminated against by mortgage lenders, research from The Mortgage Lender found.
What is more 20% think they would be refused a mortgage if they applied for one because they are self-employed.
Peter Beaumont (pictured), deputy chief executive of The Mortgage Lender, said: “It’s time the mortgage industry woke up to the fact the world is changing. The growth in self-employment since the financial crash has been one of the defining characteristics of the UK’s recovery.
“For such a large segment of the homeowning population to feel they will be discriminated against when they apply for a mortgage is shocking and unfair. As a sector we’ve quite happily lent to married employed people when statistics show at least half of those couples are going to split up. “
Of those who have applied for a mortgage 45% found it difficult to provide the information required by the lender to assess their application.
And 26% of self-employed homeowners said they would live in another property if they were treated the same as an employed person.
There are 4.86 million self-employed individuals in the UK, accounting for 15.1% of the working population, according to the Office for National Statistics.
