Non-standard profiles
Mortgage for self-employed professionals or micro-entrepreneurs: two or three financial statements to borrow?
Years in business, micro-business deduction, salary or dividends, irregular income: what the bank actually considers, and how to prepare your file.
No text mandates a specific number of financial statements for borrowing: banking practice is to present two completed accounting years, three when the business is young or irregular. The bank seeks an income that will be reproduced. It considers the profit after the micro-entrepreneur deduction, never its turnover, and reasons on the lowest accounting year when income varies.
By Sandy MASCART, mandataire d'intermédiaire en opérations de banque et en services de paiement ORIAS 26000541 sous le mandat de CDV PATRIMOINE & ASSURANCE (ORIAS 14005573)
Key points
- No text mandates a number of years in business: this is banking practice, not a rule, and it varies according to the institutions.
- The bank considers the flat-rate profit after the tax deduction, never the gross turnover of the micro-entrepreneur.
- For a business with low actual expenses, the micro-business deduction may reduce the income considered by the bank.
- A manager's remuneration is considered as regular income; dividends are only considered under strict conditions.
- For irregular income, the analysis is based on the lowest accounting year, not on the average of the good years.
« Three years of activity are required. » No text imposes this: the bank is seeking income that is durable and stable. As a manager, micro-entrepreneur or self-employed professional, you must demonstrate this, just like all other atypical profiles.
How many years of activity are required to borrow as a self-employed professional?
The practice: two completed financial years, or three if the activity is young or irregular. This is not a rule: the analyst requires proof that the income will be reproduced.
The bank is purchasing predictability. Five recurring clients under framework contracts provide more reassurance than four years with a single client.
Less than three years of activity: four levers
- Prior experience in the profession: eight years as an employee in the same speciality means you are not a beginner. Show your previous contracts.
- A balanced client portfolio, under written contracts.
- Remaining savings after the purchase: a cushion for a period of low billing.
- A salaried co-borrower, who stabilises the application without saving it entirely.
Salaried portage is read sometimes as salaried employment, sometimes as self-employment: the loan without a permanent contract.
How does the bank calculate the income of a micro-entrepreneur?
Not on your turnover: on the flat-rate profit, after the deduction, as shown on your tax assessment notice.
Micro deduction: who loses, who gains
- Consultant, trainer, developer, with low expenses: you earn more than the lender reads.
- Buy-to-let or trades, with high expenses: the deduction can flatter your income.
With low expenses, switching to the actual expenses regime can increase your borrowing capacity. Decide this with an accountant, and allow for one or two accounting periods under the new regime.
Furnished letting has its own rates and thresholds, recently amended: check them at the source. The turnover ceiling of the micro regime as well.
Manager of a SASU or EURL: salary, dividends, or both?
The remuneration is taken into account. The dividend is weighted under strict conditions, sometimes excluded.
A low salary and a high amount of dividends reduce social contributions, and weigh down the credit application. For a dividend to count:
- several successive and comparable distributions;
- equity and cash flow that support them;
- a consistent remuneration alongside.
The majority manager of an EURL is read as a self-employed person; the president of a SASU, treated as an employee, remains in control of their payslips.
Borrowing in two or three years? Decide now
Increasing the remuneration over two accounting periods costs social contributions, but can decide the agreement. Civil company: financing in a civil company.
What to do if your income is erratic?
Do not average them yourself: if the variance is high, the analyst reasons on the low point.
- Show the entire history, with the bad year explained.
- Show the buffer: a weak month without overdraft.
- Build on the low point: an application that holds there holds everywhere.
Le plafond porte sur le rapport entre charges de crédit et revenus. Sur un revenu volatil, c'est le revenu retenu par l'établissement — et non celui que vous avez perçu au meilleur exercice — qui alimente le calcul.
- En vigueur depuis le
- Source
- Décision D-HCSF-2021-7, art. 1er — Légifrance
The detail: the income taken into account by the lender.
From employee to self-employed: when to borrow?
Before resigning, or after two completed financial years. Never in between.
Once you have passed the probationary period as an employee, you are considered a standard application. Maintain this situation until the funds are disbursed: resigning or incorporating a company before the release of funds may cause the agreement to fall through.
The documents that prove self-employed income
Without a balance sheet, the sole trader must provide:
- their tax assessment notices and professional income tax returns;
- their turnover declarations;
- the statements of the dedicated account for the business activity.
Depending on the structure, add:
- the vigilance certificate and the status notice from the business register;
- the articles of association and the minutes regarding the allocation of profits;
- the framework contracts or letters of mission;
- the amortisation schedule for any professional loan.
For the real regime: the treatment of liberal professions.
Which banks accept young structures?
Those that have a dedicated channel for professionals. The process matters more than the brand.
- A professional market lender reads a complete file, albeit more slowly.
- A retail network applies a salary grid.
- An exclusively online actor often excludes these profiles.
Put lenders in competition: the lender families, the specialised lenders.
Six points that make a good self-employed application
- Declarations, assessments and receipts are consistent.
- The trend is clear, with any dip explained.
- The client portfolio is diversified, under contract.
- The contractual share of income is dominant.
- The remaining savings are solid.
- Professional commitments are declared, including guarantees.
Start from the retained income, not the turnover, then calculate using the instalment formula.
Do you have your tax assessment notices to hand? Create your application or have your documents reviewed by telephone.
Sources
Read next
- Mortgage in Lyon: frequently asked questions
- Mortgage for self-employed professionals: ensuring your financial statements are assessed at their true value Line-by-line adjustment of the profit, double counting of the business loan, current account, SELARL, takeover: what increases your income taken into account.
- Mortgage without a permanent contract: fixed-term contracts, temporary work, probationary period – what the banks accept No permanent contract? The bank assesses income continuity: length in the trade, multi-year average, temp work, end of probation, documents that unlock it.
- Company director or manager: making your income legible for a mortgage Company director: the lender reviews your personal file and the company’s. The documents that make your income legible, and the commitments to declare.
- Financing a purchase through an SCI, under IR or IS: what the bank truly requires Mortgage through an SCI: partners’ joint guarantee, debt-to-income ratio, current-account contribution, security. What secures the deal, under IR or IS.
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