Suffolk BS improves criteria to increase case suitability

Published on

Suffolk Building Society has made four changes to its lending criteria.

The mutual has increased and standardised the maximum loan size to £1m across <80% LTV standard residential, expat residential, expat buy-to-let, buy-to-let, and holiday let products. The previous maximum loan size varied between products and ranged from £500k to £750k.

The Society will also now consider applications from family members across its product range.

For buy-to-let applications, the society is removing its 10 times indebtedness rule. This means that where previously an applicant could not have any more than 10 times their sole or joint income in debt in their personal or limited company name,  the Society will now judge outstanding credit commitments on a “common-sense basis”, allowing it to use its discretion to lend above this limit. The maximum portfolio size will remain as three buy-to-let and/or holiday let properties, or 10 background properties on a residential application.

Where Suffolk Building Society previously would only consider family Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements (ASTs), it will now allow landlords to let their property to three unrelated professionals on a single AST.

Charlotte Grimshaw (pictured), head of intermediary relations, Suffolk Building Society, said: “These changes are as a result of us continually assessing the marketplace to better understand how we can support intermediaries and their clients. We don’t promise to lend to everyone but relaxing our criteria in these four areas means that we can help with a greater number of broker cases, with clients benefitting from our common-sense approach to underwriting.”

Latest POLL

COMMENT ON MORTGAGE SOUP

We want to hear from you!
Leave a comment and get the conversation started.
You need to register to post, so please login or sign up below.

Latest articles

Square 1 Media announces May Mortgage Market Debate

Square 1 Media is to hold its next Mortgage Market Debate on Wednesday, 21 May,...

Coventry BS maintains status as one of the best workplaces

Coventry Building Society has been named one of Great Place to Work's UK’s Best...

Atom bank breaks Near Prime record

Atom bank has reported another record-breaking month for Near Prime activity. Over the course of...

Berkeley Alexander appoints new BDM

General insurance provider Berkeley Alexander has announced the appointment of Grant Robinson as a...

Other news

Lenders must step up on high LTV products

Things are on the up for borrowers with a smaller deposit. The financial information...

Square 1 Media announces May Mortgage Market Debate

Square 1 Media is to hold its next Mortgage Market Debate on Wednesday, 21 May,...

Coventry BS maintains status as one of the best workplaces

Coventry Building Society has been named one of Great Place to Work's UK’s Best...