Transfer Child Benefit etc to Partner for better Mortgage?

[Chocolateporridge]

I'm currently a SAHM and my DH is full-time self-employed. We currently have a mortgage but need to move to a larger house so need a bigger mortgage.

Apparently mortgage lenders look at four times a person's income for a mortgage but if it's joint income they look at three times.

Does anyone know if this is correct, and if it is do you think it would be worth our while to transfer the Child Benefit payments and Child Tax Credits to my DH bank account instead of mine? I've tried phoning HMRC but can't get through

Lenders need to look at affordability not simply multiples. I’d look to make a joint application declaring all income and outgoings. What advice are you looking for from HMRC?

Thanks @celtiethree for replying so quickly! I was phoning HMRC to ask them whether it would affect my state pension if I transferred my Child Benefit payments to my DH as I'm not employed at the moment because I'm a SAHM and I know that the years you receive child benefit cover your National insurance contributions.

Yes, as far as I am aware it is the claimant who gets the NI credits and so be careful if you do change them to your partner.

You will not get the NI credits if your dh claimed instead of you. You don't transfer it, he claims instead of you. Or do you just mean to change the bank account they go into? You can change the account without changing who is claiming it. Do you not have a joint account?

It’s irrelevant who claims child benfit for mortgage purposes it’s still classed as joint income.

*Benefit

@dementedpixie we've never had a joint bank account, it works well for us. So I can just get the payments moved to his account and it won't affect my status with NI? Is it likely to improve the chances of a better Mortgage?

It will depend on the lender as to whether they count benefits as income or whether they just look at income from work

I was told benefits aren't included in my income. Income is wages.

Every time we've rearranged our mortgage our benefits have been taken into account as income I'm sure.

Different lenders look at income/benefits etc in different ways but whichever bank account the money lands in is unlikely to affect the amount of mortgage you can get.

In your circumstances (income from self employment, possibly tight on affordability) the best thing to do would be to talk to a good broker who can look at your circumstances to advise on mortgages that you qualify for.

Whichever way you look at it, you will be classed as a dependent when it comes to assessing income for a mortgage. It doesn't matter who claims the child benefit.

But it does matter who claims if the OP is a SAHM who needs the NI credits towards her state pension