A lender advertises six times income. Your assessed income is £150,000. You expect £900,000 and are offered £710,000.
Nothing has gone wrong.
The multiple is a ceiling, not a formula.
Between the advertised figure and your actual offer sit four or five things, and whichever produces the lowest number is the number you get
What Actually Sets Your Number
The stress test
Usually the binding constraint. Lenders must assess whether you could afford payments if rates rose, but they design that test themselves. Two lenders quoting identical multiples can be six figures apart on the offer.
Your commitments
Credit cards are typically assessed on the balance, not the payment. Loans and car finance count at the monthly payment for the remaining term. A car finance agreement with a few years left can cost a five-figure sum in borrowing.
Term and age
Longer terms produce larger loans and more total interest. Lenders cap the age at which the term must end, and those caps vary widely.
Loan-to-value
Higher multiples are commonly restricted to lower loan-to-value bands. Your deposit determines which tier you’re in before income is considered.
Your assessed income itself
For contractors and the self-employed, this is a variable rather than a fact — and the spread on it is often wider than everything else combined.
Base rate stood at 3.75% in July 2026, held in June on a 7–2 vote with two members preferring an increase. Rates are not on a one-way path, which is precisely why stress testing exists
Case Studies
Case Study 1: Jenna – Stress Test Gap, St Albans
Jenna received offers from two lenders publishing the same headline multiple. They differed by a substantial sum.
The difference was entirely stress test design. Neither lender had done anything unusual.
Case Study 2: Paul – Car Finance, Ipswich
Paul’s affordability came in well below expectation despite a strong income.
Clearing a finance agreement before reapplying moved his maximum loan materially — and cost far less than the borrowing it unlocked
Case Study 3: Meera – Age and Term, Plymouth
Meera’s income supported the loan she wanted, but her chosen lender’s maximum age at term end forced a shorter term and higher payments.
A lender with a later age cap produced the same loan comfortably.
Why Outcomes Differ
Meera’s income supported the loan she wanted, but her chosen lender’s maximum age at term end forced a shorter term and higher payments.
A lender with a later age cap produced the same loan comfortably.
FAQs
Because the multiple is a ceiling, and commitments, stress testing and term all reduce it.
A check on whether you could still afford payments if interest rates rose.
Some lenders revisited their methodology after FCA guidance in March 2025, but the requirement remains.
More than most people expect — cards are usually assessed on balance rather than payment.
Yes, through the maximum term available to you.
Not necessarily — the stress test checks resilience to higher rates, not to a gap in income.
The advertised multiple tells you where the assessment can reach. It rarely tells you where it lands.
Generic calculators use generic assumptions, and for contract or self-employed income the error can be substantial in either direction.
