Step One Finance has announced new second charge products and an expanded sales team for South and Wales.

Key rate and criteria changes are as follows:

• Up to 2% reduction in rate on many product selections
• Revised assessment of adverse units for secured and unsecured credit
• Reduction in lender fee on buy-to-let mortgages to 2%
• Continued ability to go to 80% LTV for equitable charges, AVMs, buy-to-lets and applications with multiple adverse credit units.

Step One has also revealed that James Hamblin has been appointed as business development manager (BDM) for the South of England and David Burford for the Wales & West region. The pair have worked in financial services for over 25 years and will work together with Haydyn Jones who covers the North region for Step One.

Steve Khan, head of commercial development, said: “It’s great to welcome James and David to the team. We expect both BDMs to add real value and support to our new and existing introducers in their regions.”

Martin Porter, head of lending, added: “We’re delighted to welcome our new BDMs just as we release ourrevised products and criteria alongside our recently launched bridging products. Both BDMs have experiencein these lending sectors and we look forward to continued growth and expansion in both areas.”