Hanley Economic Building Society has made three key criteria changes to its lending policy.

Following intermediary feedback, Hanley Economic Building Society has reduced its credit window for defaults and CCJs from six to three years. This means that most credit impairments will be ignored if they are over three years old, although cases will still be assessed on an individual basis.

The Society will now also accept agency workers and they will be treated in the same manner as zero hour contract workers and the NHS staff bank. Applicants must have been continuously employed for at least 12 months with the same agency and have a contract of employment in place.

In addition, lending on flats with cladding is now accepted if the property has been constructed post January 2020.

David Lownds (pictured), head of products and marketing at Hanley Economic Building Society, said: “In a time when borrowing needs are constantly evolving, it’s vital that we, as a lender, regularly assess where we can implement positive change to better support these needs.

“The pandemic impacted many different people in many different ways and we all appreciate that life events can happen at any given time. As a mutual, we pride ourselves on being able to offer a range of property-related solutions to credit-worthy borrowers – even those with historic issues – in a responsible manner when and where possible.

“We hope these criteria enhancements will be well received by our intermediary partners as they were formulated on the back of their valued feedback.”