Mortgage Income Multipliers
Mortgage income multipliers are one of the tools that are used by mortgage lenders in order to work out how much they are prepared to lend each person looking for a mortgage or remortgage. Usually this is either three times the income of a person applying for a mortgage alone or two and half times the incomes of two or more people applying for a mortgage together, whichever one gives the highest figure. Some mortgage lenders are more generous with their lending and these can be even more flexible if the loan to value is quite low.

An example of how mortgage income multipliers work
If you look at the Abbey and their mortgage income multiplier you will see that they will use the information on a borrowers credit rating to calculate how much they are willing to lend them. This could lead to a borrower being able to apply for a mortgage which is up to five times the amount of their annual salary.

Mortgage Affordability Calculator
One of the latest and now most common ways in which a lender can calculate how much they can let you borrow is by using a mortgage affordability calculator. These work by looking at your lifestyle and ability to pay a mortgage rather than using an income multiplier. This can lead to a borrower being able to borrow more than previously allowed with income multipliers.

At the moment there are around 25 lenders on the market who can use a mortgage affordability calculator to work out the amount they could potentially lend a person. If you have a high credit rating, have no dependants and two incomes you could borrow even more.

Some of the high street lenders who use a mortgage affordability calculator are Standard Life, Halifax and Alliance & Leicester.

Enhanced mortgage affordability calculator
Today some lenders will offer a borrower more money if they opt for a five to ten year fixed rate mortgage with them. This is seen as much less of a risk to the lender as the repayments remain the same for a much longer period and are more likely to be budgeted for with relative ease.

Mortgage borrowing advice
If you would like find out more about how much you can borrow on a new mortgage there are many websites that link to a mortgage affordability calculator at many of the mortgage lenders. Alternatively you might want to use one of the many mortgage calculators on a mortgage comparison website. You could speak to an independent mortgage advisor and discuss any area of mortgage borrowing with a dedicated mortgage advisor.