Marsden Building Society has made changes to its later life mortgage criteria, including increasing lending limits by up to five times a borrower’s income for pound-for-pound remortgages.

The society’s new policy is a result of broker feedback and the criteria changes apply to the later life and Retirement Interest Only (RIO) mortgage ranges.

The updates include:

• Increased flexibility for pound-for-pound remortgages: Borrowers could now benefit from five times income multiples on pound-for-pound remortgage cases on our later life and RIO products, subject to affordability criteria. This covers the outstanding principal loan balance only and associated fees are excluded.
• Simplified age criteria: The maximum age limit for later life mortgages is now set at 90 at the end of the mortgage term and 85 at the start, eliminating the need for ONS data.
• Updated equity requirements for downsizing: Minimum equity requirements for downsizing are subject to the underwriter’s discretion at the point of application.
• Increased maximum loan size: The maximum loan amount has been increased from £750,000 to £1,250,000. Loan sizes above £750,000 will be subject to a 0.40% arrangement fee.

Donna Barclay, head of credit at Marsden Building Society, said: “We’re committed to understanding the evolving needs of our borrowers and are pleased to announce these significant changes to our lending policies, which will offer greater flexibility and accessibility.

“Intermediary feedback plays a critical role in the development of our products and these changes have been implemented to address the needs and concerns of our brokers and their clients. We’re confident that our updated criteria will be popular with borrowers and will help make lending in later life a genuine option for more people.”