Specialist lender Pepper Homeloans, has enhanced its self-employed criteria cutting the minimum trading period to one year.
The specialist lender has also reduced its minimum term for all applications to five years, increased the maximum age for buy-to-let applicants at term-end to 85 and will remortgage registered business owners after six months.
Jeff Knight, head of marketing, said: “As we further strengthen our position in the UK mortgage market we are continually seeking opportunities within specific market niches. One such niche is the self-employed and this is a growing opportunity for intermediaries.”
The lender will also consider rental income in the affordability calculation if it is not the sole or primary income.
Intermediary-only lender Pepper Homeloans launched in 2015 and does not use credit scoring to assess applications.
Richard Spinks former chief mortgage officer and programme director at Saffron Building Society, joined Pepper as director of lending operations in April.
Mortgage grandee Colin Snowdon (pictured) also joined Pepper earlier this year after a career involving the launch of five mortgage lenders including Aldermore and most lately helping Sainsbury’s consider its mortgage options ahead of launch.
Victoria Hartley is contributing editor at Mortgage Solutions, Specialist Lending Solutions, Your Money and Your Mortgage at London-based publishing company AE3 Media.
She has an MA in Radio from Goldsmiths after gaining a 2:1 in a Comparative American Studies BA at Warwick University. She also holds a TEFL qualification and taught overseas in Mexico and Japan from 1994 to 1997.
Her role includes editorial oversight of the news, analysis and features, event content management and strategic and editorial consultancy for the AE3 Media group. She is an experienced video, broadcast and live-event host and regularly chairs web and podcast debates and interviews.
Multiple award nominations have resulted in two wins: Santander Media Awards, trade journalist of the year and Headlinemoney Awards, mortgage journalist of the year (B2B). Here is one of the award-winning pieces: https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2011/07/21/exclusive-tale-bailey-fraud-witness/
Previous roles include editorships of Mortgage Solutions, consumer title What Mortgage and trade title Credit Today as well as a stint freelancing for a variety of outlets including The Guardian and Which? Money.
