The Nationwide Building Society is extending the period of time a remortgage offer is valid from 90 to 180 days.

The UK’s largest building society says this move will give customers and brokers looking to reserve a product more flexibility when making an application.

The change has been made in response to both feedback from intermediaries and industry research showing that nearly a third of all remortgage applications are reserved more than three months in advance of the customer’s existing mortgage deal coming to an end.

In addition, a number of broker-focussed systems improvements are being made with the aim of allowing brokers to speed up applications by making their own updates rather than having to make telephone enquiries.

Intermediaries will now be able to unlock a DIP themselves, allowing them to make their own amends to the data included in any DIP decision and resubmit them. The DIP decision screen has also been improved and simplified to speed up the process, while information on rate switching has also been made more accessible.

Ian Andrew, the Nationwide’s intermediary relationships director, said: “By doubling the offer period from 90 days to 180 days, we are enabling those looking to remortgage a longer time period in which to complete, which is particularly useful for those who wish to access a new mortgage deal at the end of their existing one. It also brings remortgage product offers in line with purchase offers.

“We’ve also updated our intermediary platform for brokers in response to ongoing feedback, enabling them to complete the process more smoothly and demonstrating Nationwide’s ongoing commitment to the intermediary sector.”