Paradigm Mortgage Services has added Clydesdale Bank to its lender panel.

From today, member firms of the mortgage services proposition will be able to access Clydesdale’s range of residential, buy-to-let, offset, first-time buyer and professional mortgage products.

Clydesdale focuses on individual borrower needs and says it has a more rounded approach to credit assessment, looking at the applicant’s overall situation.

It is able to look at more complex cases and has a number of criteria USPs, including:

• A flexible approach to interest-only lending – mortgages available up to 75% LTV on a full interest-only basis, 80% LTV on part-and-part loans with a maximum five times loan-to-income.
• Buy-to-let and let-to-buy mortgages available with affordability including personal income and expenditure rather than a rental stress test.
• Large loans – mortgages above £750k to over £3m are available with products offering upfront pricing and fixed fees.
  Professional clients – access to an exclusive range with no product fee and a free valuation incentive.
• Self-employed borrowers – looking at the overall situation with standard LTVs offered and no application of lower caps; standard underwriting assessment timescales apply.
• Contractor cases – for freelancers and fixed-termers mortgages are available up to 95% LTV with only one-year minimum contracting history required.

Advisers can access a range of tools and services via the Clydesdale Bank website including an affordability calculator, online application and case tracking. The Bank has a wide spread of accessible BDMs and a Live Chat function for advisers to talk through their cases.

Richard Howes, director of mortgages at Paradigm Mortgage Services, said: “I think we all understand the increased need for lenders who work flexibly with advisers and clients, simply because there are far more cases which now require this approach.

“Clydesdale Bank is a lender which is fully-focused on this area, working on cases individually rather than adopting a tick-box mentality to underwriting and assessment, and we are particularly pleased to be adding it to our lender panel.

“Paradigm member firms are likely to be seeing a large number of clients who have these mortgage needs and we’re looking forward to working with Clydesdale Bank team to introduce its proposition to advisers.”