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If you are considering taking out a mortgage if you are self employed or at do not earn a regular income then you will have to be sure that your finances are not just good, but perfect.

Since the credit crunch mortgage lenders have been trying to limit the amount of mortgages they lend – the more they lend means the more risk they take on and the more money they have to set aside for the mortgage. Also, the international money markets, where the lenders used to get hold of all their money, has dried up. So mortgage lenders do not have many mortgages to lend.

So they now have tightened up their lending criteria in an attempt to curb their lending – the more chances they have to say no, the less mortgages they have to lend.

One affect of that tightening is that many borrowers have been affectively frozen out of the market, including those 'riskier' borrowers who cannot prove their incomes. Lenders are doing all they can to turn away these borrowers – you – so as not to have to take on more risk

So how do those people who cannot prove their income fully even get a mortgage now? Well there are ways and means, but it cannot be achieved alone. It demands perfect credit scores, great savings, a high loan to value ratio and some great mortgage advice.

A lender of self employed and self cert mortgages will turn down an application if there is even a dot missing from a i or a cross missing from a t. So how can you know if your application is as good as it can be? By applying through a mortgage adviser. An adviser's job is to find mortgages in tricky situations, to pair people up with their perfect loan and to liaise with lenders so as to make sure that a mortgage is right, is correct and will work for all parties.

If you are someone who cannot prove their income, don't take the risk – go through a mortgage adviser.

Keep up with the latest news and comments on Self Employed Mortgages at the Self Cert Mortgage Blog