The Saffron Building Society has reviewed its policies and made a number of changes to meet the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The mutual said that during the pandemic period, there have been some trends that have seen those seeking a mortgage have applications unnecessarily rejected through no fault of their own. The new policy updates strive to adjust that and provide applicants with a fair, common-sense approach to lending from the society.

Tony Hall, head of mortgage sales, said: “We don’t use the phrase common-sense lending loosely; it is part of our ethos at Saffron. We know that every applicant has their own story. Therefore, we have spent a long time improving our application process, making it easier, more efficient, and accessible for brokers to submit applications.

“Including the ability to submit bespoke and atypical information in support of applicants who might have a unique story we must understand. Some applications have been rejected, in our mind a little unnecessarily, because our policies existed for a very different world, especially following the effects of Covid-19.”

Saffron has launched a set of policy changes for 2021 which it claims will make the application process fairer and allow the underwriting team more flexibility when assessing affordability for mortgages.

The policy updates that brokers should be aware of include:

• Self-employed support – the society has the option to exclude the pandemic year from affordability for businesses who traded for more than a year post-2020/21 financial year
• Contractor support, including zero hour contracts
• A change in the Society’s stance on adverse credit with discretion to accept up to £250 of unsatisfied CCJ’s/Defaults
• Flexibility on acreage of land, and its use
• Updates on annexes – to coincide with growing interest in 2021

The Saffron for Intermediaries team is dedicating a free, live, interactive CPD webinar to presenting the changes and answering direct questions from brokers on the policy changes. The webinar is live on Wednesday 13 October at 11am and is free to join.