Mortgage Broker Canary Wharf

What types of finance professionals do you typically help get a mortgage? How do their needs differ from one another?

Working across mortgages within Canary Wharf, we see all kinds of different finance professionals including stockbrokers, traders, compliance managers, analysts, bankers, lawyers and accountants.

There are other industries within the area too. Clients’ needs can differ based on their level and source of income – whether they are employed, self-employed or they have income outside of basic earnings. That’s almost always the case in finance roles. Age can also be a factor.

We may be looking at standard residential purchases, remortgages, single Buy to Let or portfolio Buy to Let. It could be commercial lending, bridging or alternative property finance, and sometimes private banking.

Each client comes with their own specific drivers and needs. It’s our job to understand those and bring everything in line with your expectations. Then we can then begin advising clients in earnest.

What are the most common challenges finance professionals face when trying to get a mortgage?

For finance professionals, the potential challenges could be something simple like maximising affordability or utilising bonus income, especially if this has been gained across previous and current roles.

Sometimes we see historical adverse credit on a client’s file, or they need to utilise vested shares or RSUs (restricted sale units), which is becoming common for those in large, publicly listed companies.

People may receive commission or bonus income in general. They may want to include external rental profit from current portfolios, or income from day-rate contracting, and perhaps more complex self-employed or partnership income.

Understanding how to leverage all that in the UK mortgage lending market means knowing the criteria across every bank and building society. That’s one of the primary ways we assist our clients from the very beginning.

Many people have complex income structures. What types of income do you see and how do mortgage lenders treat them?

Complex income structures in this sphere often feature bonus and commission as well as basic salary.

Depending on the situation, for bonus and commission some banks may take anywhere from 100% to 40% or potentially not at all based on criteria/length of bonus and commission history.

We’re also seeing a lot more RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) and vested shares for employees of publicly listed companies – because it’s more efficient for the company to offer and award shares than pay higher basic salaries.

At the moment, a very small number of lenders will utilise this form of income. Most lenders discount it completely from earnings. That can be tricky for people where RSUs and vested shares are actually quite a large proportion of their overall income, and we know which lenders to approach with that.

If clients have complex company or partnership structures, there can be massive variation in how the company is set up, the shareholding and the way they are paid. It could be similar amounts every year or very different amounts over a long time period.

Day-rate contracting is also fairly common. All of these are areas where lenders either

will or won’t accept the earning structure. Each bank’s criteria, by nature, is inflexible. It’s set in stone and you will either meet it or you won’t depending on which areas mortgage lenders enjoy being active within.

That’s why it’s important for us to advise with clarity on the exact financial position of the client, with deep understanding of lending criteria across the mortgage market. Ultimately, we’re looking to save you time, smooth out the process and ultimately also save you money.

How do you help Canary Wharf-based professionals who rely heavily on annual or quarterly bonuses to maximise their borrowing potential?

We first need to understand the length of time that you have received annual or regular bonuses. It could be part of your current employment and paid quarterly, annually or biannually.

Ideally we need a two-year track record – either with the current employer, or looking back at the previous employer if you haven’t been in your current role for long.

Mortgage lending policy could range from accepting nothing from the bonus towards affordability, right up to taking 100% of it. Depending on your position, there will always be a lending solution.

We ensure your income position is reviewed in the most positive way, so that you can maximise your borrowing capacity and hit your property goals.

Income multipliers are often a deciding factor in affordability. What multipliers are realistic for Canary Wharf-based professionals?

Income multipliers are also known as Loan to Income multiples, and they’re kind of a rough guide to what a potential mortgage applicant can expect to be able to borrow.

Multiples do vary based on the level of earnings and whether or not an applicant is a first-time buyer. As we’re speaking today in December 2025, there are opportunities for first-time buyers to hit 5.5 times income.

That’s the maximum most people can achieve, although there is also the potential for six times income with very specific restrictions. With one lender you’ll have to have a certain type of current account already, and the other option involves taking a five-year fixed rate, which may not be best in the current rate environment.

In the past, 5.5 times income was only achievable for those with a joint income of around £100,000. For non-first-time buyers, the level of income generally drives the multiple, and those earning £100,000 or more can also achieve 5.5 times income.

We do see this reducing with some lenders if earnings are below this level. Around five times income is more commonplace for salaries between £40,000 and £75,000 for a non-first-time buyers.

It’s also important to mention that affordability is based on income and expenditure. We’ll need to factor in debts, credit score position, childcare and any other recurring costs. That will then give us a very accurate picture of how much you can borrow.

When someone has multiple income streams or variable pay, how do you present their case clearly to lenders?

We need to know how underwriters within the specific banks will annualise variable pay.

It could be that they’ll take a snapshot of three months – with commission, overtime, quarterly bonus, etc. Or, they may take a snapshot of six months, a full year or even multiple years, depending on their policy.

We start by understanding the situation and how this would be reflected back to us through the eyes of a lender’s policy and affordability calculations, to ensure we don’t give clients incorrect borrowing figures. As you can imagine, each bank’s approach can generate drastically different outcomes.

With multiple income streams, all lenders have expansive affordability calculators and it’s very rare that we wouldn’t know if a certain income will be used – or accepted at the level needed. The issue here isn’t necessarily being able to present it. It’s more about making sure we have a lender that will use the income in the right way.