A growing share of buyers do not fit the classic profile of "Bulgarian employment contract, salary paid into a local account". They work remotely for a foreign employer, spend part of the year in Germany or the UK, invoice clients as freelancers or draw income from their own company. Bulgarian banks do lend to them — but the process usually takes longer and needs better preparation.
We cover the general mechanics of a home loan — rates, fees, stages — in our mortgage guide for 2026. This article focuses on one question: how a bank judges income that is not a standard Bulgarian salary.
Bulgaria's Consumer Real Estate Credit Act (ЗКНИП) requires the bank to carry out a creditworthiness assessment before making a binding offer (Art. 13(1)) and to lend only if that assessment shows you will be able to repay (Art. 14(1)). The assessment is based on your income and expenses (Art. 16(1)), and the bank must verify it "by appropriate means, including documents from independent, verifiable sources" (Art. 16(4)).
Two practical consequences:
The law also limits the bank: it may request only the documents needed for the assessment (Art. 17(2)). But if you knowingly provide false information or documents, it may terminate the contract (Art. 18(2)).
Since 1 October 2024, the Bulgarian National Bank has imposed binding limits on home loans:
| Measure | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Loan-to-value (LTV) | 85% |
| Debt service to monthly disposable income (DSTI) | 50% |
| Loan term | 30 years |
Banks may exceed these limits only for a small volume of loans (up to 5% of the previous quarter's new home lending), so exceptions are rare. For non-standard income this matters a great deal: if the bank discounts part of your income as unproven or unstable, your DSTI can quickly go above 50%.
Exact lists vary between banks, but typically you will be asked for:
If you are a Bulgarian tax resident, foreign income must also be declared in Bulgaria, on the annual personal income tax return under Art. 50 of the Personal Income Tax Act (ЗДДФЛ) (Annex 6 covers foreign income), due by 30 April of the following year. A complete, correctly filed return is often your strongest document.
Banks also look at stability: how long you have worked for the employer, whether the contract is fixed-term or permanent, whether you are still on probation. A foreign contract signed two months ago is usually harder to get accepted than a long-standing one.
For freelance work, civil contracts or a sole-trader business, the foundation is the annual tax return. Banks usually ask for:
Note that the bank looks at declared income after expenses, not turnover. If you have kept taxable income low for years, it will look modest to the bank as well. If you plan to buy, think about this a year or two ahead.
Bulgaria joined the euro area on 1 January 2026, and home loans are now in euro. That changes the picture for foreign income:
For such loans the law gives you protection: a right to convert the loan into the currency of your income or of the member state where you live (Art. 33(1)), and an obligation on the bank to notify you if the outstanding debt or the instalment moves by more than 20% because of the exchange rate (Art. 34). Banks may also assess such income more conservatively. Work out for yourself how much your instalment rises if sterling or the dollar falls by 10–15%.
If your own income is not enough, or the bank will not count all of it, there are two usual solutions:
The bigger your own contribution, the smaller the loan, the lower the instalment and the easier it is to stay within the DSTI limit. With an 85% LTV cap the minimum deposit is 15% of the property's value, but with non-standard income it is often wise to plan for more — plus notary fees and transaction costs. You can estimate those with our notary calculator and the instalment with the mortgage calculator.
Our bank-financing team works every day with clients earning abroad or on a freelance basis. Call us or visit our office — we will go through your documents, assess what loan is realistic and which banks are worth approaching.
This is general information, verified October 2026. It is not legal, tax or financial advice for a specific case — each bank sets its conditions individually.
