Published 25 June 2018 · Last reviewed 6 May 2026

If you reading this article you are probably in the care professionand found it difficult to get a mortgage, this is where we may be able to help.

At Niche Advice we will work with the mortgage lenders on your behalf to help them understand the various components of you pay packet to maximise your borrowing potential.

From our our experience the Care Section is dominated by overtime, unsociable hours and shift work pay. Working patterns can include multiple roles on separate payslips and often second jobs.

The lenders will look at these facets in different ways. In an extreme case they will only use the basic salary from the primary role in their affordability assessment, however with our input we could find you a mortgage lender that would take 100% of your additional income.

The use of the additional income with our lenders often requires a discussion on its regularity. Taking into account the duration of the job to show a more consistent track record.

For example:

A second job in the same field, running concurrently with the primary job for a period, that has a proven track record on managing the hours worked and travel would show you in a better light.

Also overtime paid every month, no matter the size, is often better than a higher amount paid adhoc.

The lending rules can vary dramatically between the banks. Some will apply an average of the additional income over a 3 or 6 month period. Others take the lowest figure or look at year-to-date or P60 figures. After determining the amount of additional borrowing they might take any or use 50% to 100%. The end result can be a big disparity and could mean the different between the property you want and a compromise.

If you want to unlock your borrowing potential gives us a try.