Mortgage when pregnant?

[ThePartyArtist]

Just wondered, how difficult is it to get a (modest amount) mortgage if pregnant?

Being pregnant in itself won't make it hard to get a mortgage, it will depend on other things. Are you planning on going back to work after maternity leave? If you have a partner do they earn enough to get the mortgage on their own? You are probably best having a chat with a broker.

Do they have to know you are pregnant, though? We got our mortgage while pregnant. I never saw the mortgage adviser, so they had no idea. We just made sure we could afford the mortgage while I was on maternity leave.

A mortgage adviser will ask you if you are aware of any changes to your income or outgoings in the future. The maternity leave itself won't have an impact, but if you plan to reduce your hours or give up work, or if you will have an increase in outgoings due to childcare, you should let them know. This is to make sure you can afford the mortgage in the long term. Just as much for your benefit as theirs.

We got our first mortgage last year. Luckily I wasn't showing and never even mentioned the fact that I was pregnant.

Just one point to add - do it sooner rather than later. You will struggle more when you are on maternity leave. When we bought our current house, I was on mat leave and a number of lenders would only consider my maternity pay as my income (not my normal salary, even though I was returning to my old job on exactly the same terms and conditions - and had an employers letter to prove it). Whilst there are some lenders that will take your normal pay (as evidenced by the employers letter) into consideration, it meant that our choice of lenders (and therefore some of the better rates) was reduced (we needed my normal income to count).