Contractor Mortgage Affordability Calculator
Estimate how much a contractor can borrow from a day rate, limited company accounts or umbrella payslips, with lender-style income multiples.
This is an estimate only. Actual lending criteria, income-recognition rules and affordability stress tests vary by lender — speak to a mortgage broker or lender for a precise figure.
How much a contractor can actually borrow from a day rate
Mainstream mortgage lenders are built around payslips and P60s, so a contractor's day rate doesn't fit neatly into a standard affordability calculation — even though specialist lenders have well-established ways of assessing contractor income. Rather than a single generic income multiple, affordability in practice depends on which route you're assessed under: your day rate annualised over a working-year assumption, your limited company's salary and dividend history, or your umbrella payslips treated much like standard employment income.
The three ways contractor income gets assessed
- Day-rate annualisation: specialist lenders typically gross up a day rate using an assumed number of working weeks a year, rather than requiring several years of company accounts, though the exact working-week assumption varies by lender
- Limited company accounts: some lenders look at company profit before dividends are drawn, rather than only your personal salary and dividend income, which can support a higher loan for profitable companies that retain cash
- Umbrella payslips: because umbrella income runs through PAYE, many mainstream lenders will assess it much like standard employed income, provided there's a consistent payslip history
- In every case, lenders apply an income multiple to whichever income figure they use, and separately stress-test affordability against a higher interest rate
