Lowest residential affordability rates since 2022

On Friday 28 March, we became the first large lender to improve our residential affordability rates in response to the FCA's call earlier this month for lenders to be more flexible. This means our residential affordability rates are the lowest they've been since 2022. It’s great news for you and your clients as we'll be able to say 'Yes' to more cases.

• Standard affordability rate reduced by 0.75%.
• £4£ remortgage/5 year fixed affordability rates reduced by 0.75%.
• Retained not let property affordability rate reduced by 0.75%.

Plus, we’ve listened to your feedback and reduced our existing customer affordability rate by 1.75%, allowing new and existing customers to borrow the same amount.

Ahead of the new tax year, we’re also taking the opportunity to update Scottish tax and student loan thresholds, which means some of your clients could borrow more if they need to.

Use our affordability calculator on our website to find out how much your clients could borrow. 

Pipeline rules
All full mortgage applications (FMAs) submitted by 10pm on Thursday 27 March aren't affected by these changes. 

Any FMAs submitted from 6am on Friday 28 March will be assessed using our new lending policy.

If a material change is made to an existing application from 6am on Friday 28 March, the case will be reassessed using our new lending policy.

Help and support
We've updated our affordability calculator and our residential lending criteria on our website.