Mortgage and benefits?

Hi Rosie78

It varies from lender to lender. I had quite an argument on my hands when I stuck my child benefit in as income when I applied for one a few years ago. They said "but that is not guaranteed" I said "Well it is a lot more certain than how long my job will last" In the end they would only take my earned income into consideration but things seem more flexible these days. I imagine one of the factors would be LTV, loan to value, in other words if the house is worth a lot more than you are borrowing then they are more likely to take a lenient view as there is lots of equity in the house to secure their loan. I have certainly heard of mainstream lenders counting Child benefit and tax credits as income when they look at affordability.

I have just had an official mortgage offer, so speaking from recent experience. My mortgage broker said that it depends on the lender.  Some are more leanient than others. I think it was Natwest who weren't happy taking child benefit and tax credits into account.  One lender didn't want to count my 17 year old in the CB and Tax credits.  In the end I was down to 2 lenders, Platform (Brittania/Cooperative) and Nationwide, who were both happy to count benefits and tax credits and didn't take into consideration the ages of my children.  I went with Nationwide because their interest rates were better.  I have to say though, that the amount I am borrowing compared to the value of the house was a huge sway in my favour as my deposit is more than the amount I am borrowing.