The lender that'll offer you the most might not be the one you'd expect
Checking every lender side by side means you can walk into a broker conversation knowing exactly where you stand. No surprises, no missed options, and no settling for a lower amount because you only checked the obvious names.
60+
Lenders Checked
2 mins
Average Results Time
Zero
Credit Searches
See It in Action
Watch how we compare 60+ lenders in under 2 minutes
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Your payslip, read the way lenders read it
Most affordability tools ask you to guess your income figures. Get it wrong and your results are meaningless.
Our AI reads your payslip and extracts exactly what lenders will use — basic pay, overtime, bonus, commission — broken down the way each lender calculates it. Better inputs mean more accurate results.
- Automatic income breakdown from your payslip
- Identifies bonus, overtime & commission separately
- No other tool offers this
Sample AI Extraction
Borrowing by salary
See Why Checking Every Lender Matters
The same salary gets you wildly different offers depending on which lender you ask. Here's what we found across 60+ lenders.
| Your Salary | Lowest Offer | Highest Offer | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £67,900 | £111,351 | +£43,451 |
| £25,000 | £104,765 | £150,000 | +£45,235 |
| £30,000 | £134,100 | £180,000 | +£45,900 |
| £35,000 | £155,750 | £210,000 | +£54,250 |
| £40,000 | £179,500 | £240,000 | +£60,500 |
| £50,000 | £224,500 | £300,000 | +£75,500 |
| £60,000 | £269,400 | £360,000 | +£90,600 |
| £75,000 | £375,000 | £450,000 | +£75,000 |
| £100,000 | £500,000 | £600,000 | +£100,000 |
Based on a single applicant, 25-year term, no additional debts. Last updated April 2026.
The Complete Buying Guide
What Happens After Your Affordability Check?
From getting a Decision in Principle to picking up the keys — the full UK home buying journey explained. 11 stages, typical timelines, and what to do at each one.
Mortgages with bad credit — CCJs, defaults, bankruptcy and more
A missed payment, a CCJ, a default, an IVA, a discharged bankruptcy or a current DMP doesn't close the door on getting a mortgage. Specialist lenders like Kensington, Pepper, Bluestone, Precise and Vida lend to applicants the high street rejects — see exactly which ones match your situation.
Specific situation? See which lenders accept it
Probation period, self-employed with one year of accounts, on a Skilled Worker visa, gifted deposit, ex-local-authority flat, contractor day rate, zero-hours contract, foreign-currency income — every UK lender treats these differently. Browse our lender criteria questions to see which lenders accept your exact situation.
How does mortgage affordability work in the UK?
UK mortgage affordability is the maximum amount a lender will let you borrow, based on your income, monthly outgoings, and the lender's own stress test of what you could still pay if interest rates went up. It's the “how much can I borrow” figure that drives every mortgage decision — and crucially, it varies by lender. The same applicant can be offered £240,000 by one bank and £310,000 by another on identical inputs.
The two main levers are the income multiple (typically 4 to 4.5 times annual income, up to 5x or 5.5x for higher earners) and the stress rate the lender applies to test whether you could still afford the payment if rates rose. Different lenders apply different rules to bonus income, overtime, commission, self-employment profits, and pension contributions — and those rule differences are what produce the £40-80k spread between offers.
Beyond the income side, lenders also assess your committed expenditure (loans, credit-card debt, school fees, child maintenance), your credit history, and the property itself. A handful of factors — probation period employment, a foreign-currency salary, a flat above commercial premises, a recent CCJ — narrow your lender pool dramatically. We've built dedicated tools so you can see who accepts your situation in those edge cases.
The point of running our calculator before applying is simple: every full mortgage application leaves a hard credit search. Applying to a lender that would have declined you anyway costs you nothing in fees but a small ding on your credit file — and three or four of those compound. We check the lender criteria and affordability calculations without ever touching your credit file, so you can focus your application on lenders likely to say yes.
How much can I borrow on my income?
As a rough rule of thumb, expect 4 to 4.5 times your annual gross income on a standard residential mortgage with a 10-15% deposit. Higher earners and clients with larger deposits often access 5x to 5.5x. Joint applicants combine incomes, which usually multiplies up rather than averages.
Quick reference at standard 4.5x multiple, single applicant:
- £30k salary → roughly £135,000
- £40k salary → roughly £180,000
- £50k salary → roughly £225,000
- £75k salary → roughly £337,500 (often 5x = £375,000)
- £100k salary → roughly £450,000 (often 5x = £500,000)
Real-world figures depend heavily on your outgoings, deposit, credit profile, and whether you have bonus or commission income. The calculator runs your actual figures against each lender's real model — those rough multiples are a starting point, not a final answer.
What does our calculator actually check?
For each of 60+ UK lenders, we run your inputs (income, employment type, deposit, outgoings, credit profile, property type) through that lender's real affordability model — usually their own published API or calculator, supplemented by hand-coded criteria from their broker portal where the API doesn't exist. You see a per-lender maximum borrowing figure, a flag for any lender that explicitly declines your situation, and a side-by-side comparison.
Free for the 9 biggest mainstream lenders. The full 60+ panel including specialists (Kensington, Pepper, Bluestone, Precise, Vida, Together, etc.) is £9.99 — designed for buyers who already know they need a specialist or want the complete picture before talking to a broker.
We're an independent information tool, not an FCA-authorised broker. The calculator tells you which lenders are open to you and how much they'd lend; your broker remains the right person to confirm and apply. See our methodology for the detail on how each calculation is built.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No. We check each lender’s affordability criteria using the income and financial details you provide. We never access your credit file, and your credit score is completely unaffected.
Very. We use each lender’s actual affordability calculator or published criteria — the same tools mortgage brokers use. Results reflect what lenders would offer based on the income details you provide. The only thing we can’t account for is your credit history, which lenders assess separately.
No. A Decision in Principle (DIP) involves a credit check from a single lender. Our tool checks affordability across 60+ lenders without touching your credit file. Think of it as the step before a DIP — it tells you which lenders to approach.
Mortgage affordability is how much a lender will let you borrow based on your income, outgoings, and their own criteria. Every lender calculates this differently — which is why the same person can be offered £250,000 by one lender and £320,000 by another. Our tool shows you the full range.
Each lender has its own formula for assessing income, overtime, bonuses, and expenditure. Some are more generous with bonus income, others have lower stress rates, and some accept income types that others ignore entirely. Checking multiple lenders reveals opportunities you’d otherwise miss.
Download your PDF report and take it to any mortgage broker or advisor. It shows exactly what each lender would offer, so your broker can find you the best deal without guesswork.
