Three high-street lenders said no. Sorted in a fortnight.

Michael had gone self-employed as a consultant 14 months earlier after a 15-year career in the same industry as an employee. His first full year of accounts showed net profit of £78,000. He had found a house he loved in Hull with an accepted offer of £300,000. Three high-street lenders had declined on the basis that he had less than two years of self-employed accounts.

The high street was not going to work. Michael needed a lender that would consider one year of self-employed accounts, ideally alongside the fact that his self-employed income was in the same field as his previous employment. He also needed to move fast, the vendor had another offer pending.

Anthony went straight to two specialist self-employed lenders whose criteria accepted 12 months of trading with a signed accountant certification. Both underwrote the case within a week. The winning option was a five-year fix at a rate 0.4% above the best high-street rates, a small premium in exchange for actually being able to complete.

Full mortgage offer received 14 days after Michael’s first call to Anthony. Completion followed four weeks later. Michael has since moved his life insurance and income protection cover to A&L, and expects to remortgage to a mainstream lender at his two-year mark now that he will have the accounts to qualify.