CIS Mortgages

Why CIS Contractor Mortgages Are Different

If you’re a CIS contractor, the challenge in securing a mortgage is rarely how much you earn.

It’s how lenders choose to assess that income.

Most high street lenders are set up for traditional, salaried employees. When your income comes from weekly CIS tax vouchers, day rates, umbrella company payslips, or a limited company structure, it often doesn’t fit their standard criteria.

This can lead to:

• Being told you can borrow far less than you realistically can
• Requests for accounts or documents you may not yet have
• Or even being declined, despite strong earnings and a consistent contract history

The issue is that CIS income isn’t always straightforward on paper. Day rates, fluctuating payslips, holiday pay, deductions, and income routed through a limited company can all be misunderstood or undervalued.

To the wrong lender, this complexity looks like risk — even when your income is stable and predictable.

Meanwhile, employed applicants with similar earnings are often assessed more easily, simply because their payslips follow a familiar format.

Choosing the wrong lender can result in wasted time, unnecessary stress, and a declined application that sets you back in your property journey.

A Smarter Way to Assess CIS Contractor Income

At Premier Mortgage Services, we take a different approach.

We specialise in working with CIS contractors and understand how your income works in the real world — whether you’re paid via an umbrella company, your own limited company, or through weekly or monthly CIS tax vouchers.

More importantly, we know which lenders are experienced in assessing contractor applications properly.

Rather than forcing your income into criteria that doesn’t fit, we:

• Start with your contract and day rate
• Convert this into a realistic borrowing potential
• Match you with lenders who understand CIS income

This approach ensures your application is positioned correctly from the start — helping to reduce delays, avoid unnecessary declines, and remove uncertainty.

In many cases, lenders can base your borrowing on your day rate rather than being limited by salary, dividends, or company profits.

This can significantly increase your borrowing potential, without needing to restructure your income or withdraw additional funds from your business just to meet standard lending criteria.

If you’d like to find out how much you could borrow, get in touch with Premier Mortgage Services Nottingham today or complete our quick enquiry form to get started.