As the cost-of-living crisis rumbles on, households across the country have been striving for ways to bolster their finances to stay ahead of rising prices. There has been much commentary about people making different choices to cut down on their regular supermarket shop or turning down the heating to reduce energy bills to control their outgoings, but what about the other side of the coin?
Cutting your expenditure is one approach to tackling the rising cost of living. Another approach is to increase your income. A report by Royal London last autumn revealed that 16% of workers, equating to 5.2 million people, have taken an additional job to help pay for rising costs. The study adds that a further 30% of people said they would need to take an additional job if costs continue to rise.
This trend for workers taking on additional employment to increase their income reflects what we’ve been hearing at Pepper Money from brokers, who report an increasing number of their customers who require income from secondary employment to be included alongside their primary income.
Including more than one source of employed income for a mortgage applicant’s affordability isn’t something all lenders can offer and, if they do, some lenders may restrict the proportion of the second income they consider. At Pepper Money, however, as we take an individual approach to underwriting every application, we can consider a maximum of two sources of employed income per applicant – and this means we consider a customer’s full income, which could help them to achieve the mortgage they deserve.
We’ve found that taking this approach to affordability calculations is particularly helpful in supporting our Affordable Home Ownership proposition which appeals to your Hopeful Homeowner customers. Brokers have told us there are limited options available from other lenders, that understand and support customers who want to buy using Shared Ownership or Right to Buy schemes and have more than one source of earned income and need to include in the affordability calculation. In addition, zero-hour contracts are also acceptable if a customer has held a position with the same employer for at least two years, with stable income levels.
Paul Adams,
Sales Director
at Pepper Money