Lie to your partner if you must, but for God's sake don't lie to your lender. Or you could be charged with fraud - according to this piece over at BBC Online. The problem is with self-certification mortgages, and lenders found encouraging self-employed applicants to exaggerate their earnings. The FSA has recently gone "undercover", sending mystery shoppers to almost 50 mortgage providers and, in truth, they don't seem to have uncovered much in the way of institutionalised dishonesty, but they believe it's still going on. And in any case the self-employed don't need too much encouragement. They've set up a website... Mortgages Laid Bare... with a handy "tools and resources" page aimed at showing how much you can really afford. The internet's hardly short of mortgage FAQs, but this is about the best guide we've seen yet.