Need a decision in principle? No problem.
A decision in principle for a mortgage will give you an idea of whether we can help you. It’ll also give you an idea of how much you could borrow. You can get started by completing our form below. It’ll take around 10 minutes to complete. While we can’t give you an instant online decision, our expert team members will review your request individually to see if we can help.
We’ll now ask some questions about you and any other applicants, so make sure you have details of all income and expenditure to hand.
We’ll then contact you with a response within 2 working days. We may also call or email you if we need any further information to help us with your enquiry.
If we can give you a decision in principle we’ll email you a confirmation certificate, which is valid for 1 month.
Get a DIP
Things to bear in mind.
A decision in principle is not a guarantee we can lend to you.
Any mortgage offer may differ from the decision in principle provided.
The result of our assessment is based upon the information you provide to us. Any false or inaccurate information may invalidate the result provided. Certain assumptions will be made in relation to your circumstances, for example estimated outgoings/living costs.
The result of our assessment is based upon your circumstances and does not consider whether any proposed property will meet our lending criteria. You can find details of our general property criteria in the FAQs below.
To be eligible for a mortgage with the Society you must meet the following criteria.
All borrowers must:
- Be at least 18 years of age,
- hold a UK-based bank account,
- have indefinite rights to reside in the UK,
- not be subject to any diplomatic immunity.
- And the property must be located within England or Wales.
For a remortgage or additional borrowing:
- You must have owned the property for a minimum of 6 months (for self-build enquiries, if you have owned your property less than this, please speak to us).
For buy to let or holiday let applications:
- You must not have a portfolio of more than 3 let properties, (including any property being mortgaged with the Society),
- You must have a minimum income of £25,000 for UK applications.
For residential applications:
- You must be paid in one of our 16 accepted currencies (see FAQs below for list of acceptable currencies).
Expat applicants must:
- Hold a UK passport (for joint applications where only one applicant holds a UK passport, please speak to us),
- Be employed by an internationally recognised company, and earn a minimum income of £25,000 equivalent.
DIP Form
FAQs
Frequently asked
questions.
A decision in principle (DIP) sometimes also referred to as a mortgage in principle (MIP) or an agreement in principle (AIP), is a guide from a lender of how much they may be willing to lend to you.
It gives you an idea of whether you can borrow the funds required for a new purchase, remortgage or additional borrowing.
A decision in principle is not a mortgage offer, so is not a guarantee a lender will offer you a mortgage.
To consider a decision in principle we will ask for the following information:
Employed applicants, a full breakdown of:
- Gross basic income (before tax is deducted, excluding bonus, overtime, commission etc.)
- Any bonus, overtime or commission received.
Self employed applicants:
- Last 2 years net profit (after tax).
- Last 2 years salary and dividends for limited companies.
Retired applicants:
- A breakdown of private and state pensions.
- Any other income received e.g. benefit income, buy to let income, investment income.
A breakdown of current credit commitments:
- Total credit card balances
- Loan payments and balances (including car finance, and buy now pay later)
- Details of any other mortgages held (balance and monthly payment).
- Outgoings including council tax, utility bills, travel costs, childcare, etc. (If you are a first time buyer, you’ll need to provide estimated costs for bills.)
For residential applications we can accept the following currencies:
- Sterling
- Euro
- Swiss Franc
- Norwegian Krone
- US Dollar
- Canadian Dollar
- Singapore Dollar
- Hong Kong Dollar
- UAE Dirham
- Kuwaiti Dinar
- Qatari Riyal
- Australian Dollar
- New Zealand Dollar
- Danish Krone
- Swedish Krona
- Saudi Riyal
For buy to let applications we can accept applicants paid in most currencies, as long as there are no sanctions against the source country.
It is important to understand that a decision in principle and a mortgage offer are different.
A decision in principle is a guide to whether a lender is willing to offer you a mortgage, and how much they may be willing to lend. However, it is based only upon limited information about you.
A mortgage offer is an agreement from a lender to lend the money required. An offer is only provided following full and detailed checks of all your income and outgoings, a credit check and valuation of the property being mortgaged.
Our decisions in principle are valid for one month.
If your decision expires, please contact us via email or phone. We will ask for any details required to re-approve your decision in principle, and provide an updated decision in principle certificate if we can still consider lending.
When you’re ready to remortgage, borrow additional funds, or have had an offer accepted on a property, you’ll need to speak to one of our mortgage advisers.
The adviser will guide you through the application process with us, and if required can advise you which product, term and repayment type you should proceed with. Once you’ve had the appointment with an adviser you’ll be able to submit a full mortgage application.
We’ll request any further documentation required to evidence the information you’ve provided and submit your application. This will be fully assessed by our Lending Team to confirm your income and outgoings, alongside an updated credit check and valuation of the property being mortgaged.
If we’re satisfied with the information provided and are happy to lend the funds required, we’ll provide you with a mortgage offer.
We can consider most property types on a case-by-case basis. However, there are some property types we cannot consider in any scenario. We have listed these below.
Unacceptable property types:
- Property valued at less than £100,000.
- Ex local authority flats (except right to buy).
- Flats in blocks with more than 10 storeys.
- Fully concrete construction.
- Property with majority flat roof (except flats)
- Prefabricated property
- Boats/Caravans/Mobile homes
If you have a property that is of non-standard construction (not brick/block with tiled roof) we suggest you speak to us to see if this is something we can consider