Your Home Finance
Looking for a 100% mortgage? The route matters far more than the label.
True no-deposit lending is rare and tightly criteria-driven. Most people who buy without a deposit do it through a guarantor, family support, or by buying a share — each with very different consequences.
30+ years
no-deposit advice
Every route
compared honestly
Whole of market
access
Family support
structured properly
Situation grid
What no-deposit route are you actually considering?
How your case is assessed
How lenders assess a no-deposit purchase
Without a deposit the lender has no buffer, so something else has to carry that risk — a proven payment record, family security, or a smaller share of the property. Which one you can offer decides the route.
What replaces the deposit
Every no-deposit structure answers the same question differently: a rent-payment record used as evidence of affordability, a guarantor's equity or savings held as security, a gifted deposit from family, or a housing association retaining the rest of the property.
Credit file and payment history
With no deposit the file has to be clean. Rent-record lending in particular usually requires an unbroken run of on-time rent payments and no missed credit commitments — the payment history is doing the job the deposit normally would.
Affordability at the full loan amount
Borrowing 100% means a bigger loan, stress-tested at a bigger payment, with no LTV discount on the rate. The borrowing figure is often lower than people expect, and commitments reduce it faster than at 85%.
Security, valuation and negative equity
At 100% loan-to-value any fall in value puts you immediately into negative equity, and a down-valuation has nowhere to go. Where family security is involved, their asset absorbs part of that risk — which is why the paperwork and legal advice matter.
You don't need to work out which route exists from search results — we'll tell you which ones your circumstances genuinely support.
Specialist insight
The label is the same — the routes are not
No deposit · no family support · thin or marked credit file
Higher challenge
Very small panel · rent-record criteria are strict · often the honest answer is a plan to reach 5% rather than a 100% application.
Clean file · strong rent record · family able to help
Real routes available
Rent-record, guarantor and family-deposit structures all in play · the job becomes choosing the right one, not finding one.
Independent reviews
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Your adviser
Jay Sabine
Expert mortgage adviser specialising in complex cases including adverse credit, self-employed borrowers, and first-time buyers. All advice is tailored to your individual circumstances.
Content reviewed: 3 August 2026
CeMAP awarded by The London Institute of Banking & Finance. Cert CII (MP) awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Specialist in no-deposit and family-assisted mortgages
Helping clients with complex credit histories for over 30 years · CeMAP, Cert CII (MP) · FCA regulated
“People come in asking for a 100% mortgage. What they usually need is the right no-deposit route — and once you see them side by side, the 100% label stops being the point.”
Reviewed by Jay Sabine · Mortgage adviser · 30+ years' experience
Lived experience
Mistakes we repeatedly see
Not theory — what actually goes wrong when people chase the 100% label instead of choosing a route.
Treating "100%" as a product to shop for
It isn't a market with dozens of options. It's a handful of structures with strict criteria. Searching for a rate wastes weeks that should be spent working out which structure you qualify for.
Assuming a guarantor is a formality
A guarantor adds a second full underwrite — their income, their own mortgage, their age at the end of the term and their credit file. Asking family before understanding what's involved creates awkward conversations later.
Not counting the costs a deposit usually covers
Even with no deposit needed you still face conveyancing, searches, survey, moving costs and any Stamp Duty. Buying with nothing saved at all is a different problem from buying with no deposit.
Ignoring what negative equity means in practice
At 100% a modest fall in value can leave you unable to remortgage or move for years. It's survivable if you plan to stay put — painful if your circumstances are likely to change.
Real client scenarios
Real no-deposit journeys
Based on genuine cases we've helped with. Personal details have been changed to protect privacy.
Wanted 100% — bought with family security instead
- No deposit saved
- Strong rent record
- Parental savings used
- Purchase completed
Situation
A tenant with eight years of on-time rent payments and no deposit, convinced a 100% mortgage was the only option.
Challenge
The rent-record route was tight on the property type they wanted, and applying and failing would have left a footprint on an otherwise clean file.
What changed
We compared the routes properly: parents were willing to place savings with a lender as security rather than gift money they still needed. That structure gave a better rate tier and a wider panel than the 100% option.
Outcome
They bought with no deposit of their own, on a mainstream rate, with the parents' savings returned to them once enough equity had built up.
Why it worked
The question was never "who does 100%". It was "what can stand in for the deposit" — and the answer was already in the family.
Told to wait — bought nine months later with 5%
- No deposit
- Two credit marks
- Plan agreed
- 5% reached
Situation
First-time buyer with no deposit, two missed payments in the previous year, asking which lenders offer 100%.
Challenge
Every genuine no-deposit route needed a clean file, and no family support was available. An application would have been declined and the marks would still have been there.
What changed
We set out what the file needed to look like, what deposit would open the mainstream market, and a realistic date to apply — rather than testing lenders with a case that couldn't work.
Outcome
They bought nine months later with a 5% deposit, a clean twelve months behind them and a first-time application that was agreed.
Why it worked
Being told the truth in month one was worth more than a decline. The routes weren't there yet — the plan was.
What happens after you get in touch
From first contact to a clear answer
What happens when you get in touch — no hard search at this stage.
- 1
We understand your income, rent record, savings and whether any family support is genuinely available (no hard search)
- 2
Jay maps the realistic no-deposit routes — rent-record lending, guarantor, family deposit, or buying a share
- 3
We tell you honestly which routes are open to you, and which are marketing rather than criteria
- 4
If proceeding: Agreement in Principle → offer → application → completion
Reassurance
- Free initial review — before any hard credit search
- We compare the no-deposit routes against each other rather than selling one of them
- If reaching a 5% deposit would open a far better market, we'll tell you that instead
Before you enquire
What we'll ask you on the first call
Straightforward questions — no hard credit search at this stage.
- Your income, and how long you've been in your current employment or self-employment
- Your rent history — how long, how much, and whether every payment was on time
- Whether any family member could realistically help, and in what form
- Anything on your credit file in the last two to three years, plus what you have saved for costs
Advisory promise
When we might tell you to wait
We won't always tell you to apply today.
We may advise waiting where a recent missed payment rules out the routes that need a clean file, where no family support is genuinely available, or where a few months of saving would open the mainstream 95% market instead.
A no-deposit purchase asks a lot of your file or your family. If neither is ready, we'll say so plainly rather than testing lenders with a case we don't believe in. We give advice — not just applications.
Straight answers
Common questions about 100% mortgages
Our promise
What we'll never do
- Tell you to apply if it won't work
- Send applications everywhere
- Recommend borrowing beyond your budget
- Hide bad news
We don't advertise 100% mortgages to get a phone call. We tell you which no-deposit route your circumstances actually support.
Find out which no-deposit route fits you
Tell us your income, rent history and whether family could help — we'll tell you honestly which routes are realistic and which aren't.
The wrong no-deposit route costs a family member their savings or their security. We structure it properly, or we tell you not to.
One conversation will tell you whether a no-deposit purchase is realistic for you — or whether a small deposit is a far better plan.
£500 adviser fee — payable on completion.
Get Clear, Honest Mortgage Advice — Before You Apply
Free consultation • No credit search • FCA regulated
Struggled to get approved elsewhere? We specialise in complex cases including CCJs, self-employed income, and declined applications. Over 90% of our clients had concerns about their situation before speaking to us.
The Basics
Your Needs
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Income
Credit
Step 1 of 5
Related guides
Buying without a deposit — related decisions
If your purchase depends on the deposit you don't have, these chapters go deeper.
Guarantor mortgages
How family income, equity or savings can stand in for the deposit — and what it asks of them.
Open guide →
5% deposit mortgages
What reaching a small deposit changes about the panel, the pricing and the borrowing figure.
Open guide →
First-time buyer
The wider picture — what you can realistically borrow and whether you're ready yet.
Open guide →
Shared Ownership mortgages
When buying a share is the honest route into the area you want.
Open guide →