How 'Only Fans' ruined my mortgage chances!

Is this click bait? Not when we can learn how to improve our chances of securing a mortgage. 

 

We have all heard of this 'OnlyFans' so don’t pretend like you don’t know what it is! ...For those of you who say you actually don’t know, what it is OnlyFans is essentially a subscription porn service. People can make extra money on the side by selling photos and videos of themselves and people can watch them by paying for them (in a nutshell).  

This service helped a lot of people through the global pandemic in a few ways if you know what I mean! 

 

People set up pages in their free time during the pandemic from the comfort of their own home to generate more income whilst their business was shut or whilst they were on furlough; and some people subscribed to help them pass the time during lockdown. 

 

Whichever side of this fence you found yourself it can have implications on your chances of securing a mortgage...which sounds odd I know but stick with me.  

From a mortgage perspective, we will look at this from both sides of the fence, those that created content on OnlyFans and those that bought content on OnlyFans. 

 

This creates a new source of income for you that you would like to use towards a mortgage. As this income is paid into your bank account directly, have you declared that income to HMRC? Although you can evidence the money coming in, you are technically self-employed, so you need to complete a tax return each year.  

Those tax returns form your evidence of income for a mortgage application.  

No tax returns = no proof of income = no mortgage.  

 

The other thing is most lenders require 2 years of tax returns to evidence your self-employed income to average out those 2 years. Have you been running your OnlyFans page for longer than just lockdown or has this become a full career for you? 

 

If you wish to use this income you would need to declare all the income on your tax return and complete a tax return each year so that you can evidence this to lenders. A bank statement showing the money you earn ‘tax free’ won’t cut it! 

 

We all have hobbies and habits that don’t get in the way daily living and OnlyFans can fall into that category. But much like gambling, OnlyFans can become a problem when it comes to your mortgage application. Spending is all relative, so if you are earning £2,000 a month NET and youre spending £50 a month on OnlyFans that’s not an issue. But if youre spending £200-500 per month on OnlyFans this may look like an addiction or a spending habit that isnt under control. A lender will look at this and could decline your application as this doesn’t give them the confidence that you can repay your mortgage.  

 

Regardless to what the reference may show on your bank statement, lenders may ask to why you're sending a 'friend' certain transactions or question regular spending when calculating your affordability. 

 

 

Our advice to you is...limit your spending!