Which Lenders Use Retained Profit for Mortgages?
The single biggest borrowing lever for limited company directors is which income the lender assesses: dividends you drew, or profit the company actually made. Named lenders for each method, from our verified 54-lender self-employed criteria dataset. Last reviewed August 2026.
Quick answer
29 of the 54 lenders we track will assess a director on salary + share of net profit rather than salary + dividends — including Accord, Aldermore, Atom Bank, Bath BS, Bluestone, Cambridge BS. True balance-sheet retained profit is rarer: Coventry BS, Hodge, Livemore accept it, and 9 more consider it case by case.
The two meanings of "retained profit" — and why the difference matters
When brokers say a lender "uses retained profit", they usually mean the lender assesses salary plus your share of the company's post-tax net profit — so profit you deliberately left in the business still counts as your income. The stricter, literal meaning is balance-sheet retained profit: the accumulated reserves carried forward on the accounts, usually taken at your shareholding percentage from the latest year. Very few lenders touch that second category, and those that assess salary + dividends typically ignore retained profit entirely.
Salary + net profit lenders (29 of 54)
These lenders assess salary plus your share of post-tax net profit (several use whichever of net-profit or dividends is higher — the most generous position of all):
Accord, Aldermore, Atom Bank, Bath BS, Bluestone, Cambridge BS, Chorley BS, Coventry BS, Cumberland BS, Darlington BS, Family BS, Furness BS, Generation Home, Halifax, Hanley BS, Harpenden BS, HSBC, Kensington, Leek BS, Metro Bank, Newcastle BS, Pepper, Perenna, Saffron BS, Skipton, Stafford BS, Vida, Virgin Money, West One.
By contrast, 19 lenders assess salary + dividends only — including Bank Of Ireland, Barclays, Hodge, Leeds BS, Loughborough BS, Mansfield BS, Market Harborough BS, Monmouthshire BS — and 11 explicitly will not add retained profit on top.
Balance-sheet retained profit: the short list
- Accept retained profit: Coventry BS, Hodge, Livemore.
- Case-by-case: Halifax, Hanley BS, Harpenden BS, Kensington, Loughborough BS, Market Harborough BS, Metro Bank, Stafford BS, Together.
- Explicitly no: Aldermore, Bath BS, Family BS, Monmouthshire BS, NatWest, Newcastle BS, Perenna, Precise, Progressive BS, Santander, Vida.
- Most lenders also require a minimum 20–25% shareholding (a couple ask 33%) before assessing you on company profit at all.
Worked example: the same director, £315,000 apart
A sole director takes a £12,570 salary and £50,000 in dividends from a company with £120,000 post-tax profit. A salary-plus-dividends lender assesses £62,570 — about £281,565 of borrowing at 4.5×. A salary-plus-net-profit lender assesses £132,570 — about £596,565. Same company, same year, roughly £315,000 more borrowing purely from lender choice. Run your own figures through the self-employed income calculator to see all three bases side by side.
Context worth knowing: the FCA's own product sales data shows only about 6% of mortgage sales include a self-employed borrower against roughly 13% of the workforce being self-employed — the regulator itself describes the segment as under-served (FCA CP26/18, 2026). Picking the right assessment basis is where most of that gap closes.
Frequently asked questions
Which mortgage lenders use retained profit?
Two different things get called "retained profit". 29 of the 54 lenders in our verified dataset assess directors on salary plus the company's net profit (share of post-tax profit), which captures profit you chose not to draw. True balance-sheet retained profit — accumulated reserves — is counted by a much smaller group: Coventry BS, Hodge, Livemore accept it, and 9 more (including Halifax, Hanley BS, Harpenden BS, Kensington) consider it case by case.
Why does the retained profit method matter so much?
Because directors who leave profit in the company look artificially poor on a salary-plus-dividends assessment. A director on a £12,570 salary drawing £50,000 in dividends from a company making £120,000 post-tax is assessed at £62,570 by a dividends lender but around £132,570 by a net-profit lender — roughly £315,000 more borrowing at a 4.5× multiple.
Do net-profit lenders need a minimum shareholding?
Yes — most require you to hold at least 20% or 25% of the company (a couple ask for 33%) before they treat you as self-employed and assess company profit rather than just your payslips and dividends. Below the threshold you are usually assessed as employed.
Which lenders will NOT use retained or net profit?
11 lenders in our dataset explicitly assess directors on salary plus dividends only and do not add retained profit, including Aldermore, Bath BS, Family BS, Monmouthshire BS, NatWest, Newcastle BS. If your dividends are modest, these lenders will typically offer the least.
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