Clydesdale Bank has introduced a series of changes to their mortgage lending criteria, aimed at improving access for foreign nationals without indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or settled/pre-settled status.

The updated policy, now live, expands the range of acceptable visa types, reduces the minimum time remaining on visas, and raises loan-to-value (LTV) thresholds for both residential and buy-to-let (BTL) borrowing.

Among the headline changes, joint applications where one party has ILR will now be eligible for up to 95% LTV, with no minimum income requirement. If neither applicant holds ILR, lending will be available up to 85% LTV, again without a minimum income requirement. This increases to 90% LTV where at least one applicant earns £75,000 or more.

Buy-to-let borrowers also benefit under the revised policy. The bank will now lend up to 80% LTV for foreign national buy-to-let applications, subject to at least one applicant being an owner occupier. If none of the applicants has ILR, at least one must earn £75,000. Where one applicant does hold ILR, there is no income threshold.

Further flexibility has been introduced around visa requirements. When an applicant’s income is being used in the affordability assessment, they must have at least nine months remaining on their visa, which must be on the bank’s approved list. However, applications from customers with settled or pre-settled status will continue to be treated as if the applicant has ILR.

All applicants — whether foreign nationals or not — must have lived in the UK for the past three years.

The lender has also reminded brokers of recently announced changes to its self-employed lending criteria, which have now taken effect. These include a reduction in the minimum trading period to two years, an increase in the loan-to-income cap to 5x, and a revised approach to calculating income for limited company directors.