If your bank has turned you down for a mortgage because you are an international, receive income from abroad or have business history abroad, do not despair!

That’s the message from Wouter Hofstee Holtrop, an expert in “complex cases” and partner at Expat Mortgages. Depending on where you come from, you might be used to entrepreneurial income being treated as an extra risk for loans – or not.

But in the Netherlands, many banks are used to dealing with simple cases: people in regular employment or on a temporary contract with a declaration from their employer to renew it.

“What is complex income? It depends on who you speak to,” says Hofstee Holtrop. “Some companies work with net income; it can mean everything foreign. Complex is everything that’s not standard regular employment in the Netherlands, because that’s what every broker can close.”

A safe bet

But even if you have been turned down by your bank, you should be aware that a mortgage broker who really understands global finance and entrepreneurship can often build a story to convince a mortgage lender that you are, in fact, a safe bet.

Expat Mortgages, a specialist in getting mortgages for thousands of internationals, boasts an even lower rate of people defaulting on their payments than the norm in the Netherlands.

“The default rate in the Netherlands is already insanely low in comparison to other countries like the US, at 0.4%,” he says. “Our clients have a default rate that’s even lower, because the last thing a foreign client wants to default on is their mortgage.”

The first thing to know is if you have income that differs from the norm, you should expect to pay more of a down payment for a house. Expat Mortgages typically works only with entrepreneurs who can put down 15% of the purchase price in cash, and who are also prepared to pay a slightly higher fee to cover checking foreign documentation.

Documents in order

You will also need to have everything in order well in advance, so that you can go through a pre-approval process to know what your allowable income will be judged to be – before you start house hunting.

One thing that will be considered is the currency in which you are paid. “We build in security for currency risk in the income and on average we use 10% less than the income we really think we can declare,” says Hofstee Holtrop.

“If we have an average income with all of the necessary corrections for €100,000 equivalent, we tell the bank we will only use 90%. And you really need to have a minimum of €70,000 or €80,000 to get entrepreneurial income from abroad approved because otherwise the risk just becomes too big.”

There are myths too around being a freelancer. Many people assume you must produce three years of income in the Netherlands, but this isn’t necessarily the case if you can build the right story about your track record in another country, in an industry that easily transfers.

Freelancing

“If you’re a medical doctor, even though the numbers were historically the same, we cannot use your previous income because we cannot guarantee that you can do the same work, in a different time zone, in a different country,” he says. “But we have had full entrepreneurial income approved for someone with four years’ history in the US and two months in the Netherlands. The story matters a lot.”

Expat Mortgages now has a team that deals with complex income, made up of Wouter and new arrival Paul van der Weide, a former senior entrepreneurial specialist at one of the big three banks. They are experts in the kind of official documents that can prove your taxable earnings elsewhere, and will be accepted by Dutch banks.

“It’s just not correct that you always need a trading history of three years,” Wouter says. “The minimum banks tell clients is one year, but it is possible to vary this with case-by-case approval.”

What you need

You will need balance sheets, profit and loss statements, government tax documents and everything properly checked by a chartered accountant. It is also wise to think about where your savings are, how quickly you can get them to the Netherlands, and the risk of the exchange rate changing by the time you want to make an offer on a house.

If you have property abroad or mortgages abroad, this is not necessarily a problem if you are honest and built the right case around your income for a mortgage lender.

Expat Mortgages helps scores of clients each year with “complex” situations, carries out its own thorough anti-fraud checks and only presents clients to mortgage lenders who meet all the checks.

“We’re fully behind it, otherwise we don’t send it to the bank,” he says. “People at the banks normally don’t know the possibilities for exceptions – they know the standard cases. We often see people getting told no, which in 95% of cases is not true. It is complex, but it is possible.”

Wouter is hosting an online seminar about entrepreneurs and mortgages on January 15. Sign up here or contact Expat Mortgages for advice on your personal situation.

Important: This column offers general guidance. It does not take into account your personal circumstances and does not constitute financial, legal or tax advice. Laws and lender policies change. You should take personalised advice before making decisions.