Newcastle Intermediaries has introduced interest-only to its range of residential mortgages, including self-employed options.
The interest-only mortgages will be available at a variety of loan to values (LTV) to a maximum of 75% – an additional 5% LTV can be secured if part of the loan is arranged on a repayment basis.
Affordability for interest-only loans will be calculated on an interest-only basis and take into consideration the outgoings of the customers’ repayment vehicle.
Steve Carruthers, head of mortgage distribution at Newcastle Intermediaries (pictured), said: “Whilst the interest-only market is limited in size, as a customer focused lender we believe we should provide this as an option for borrowers who have a clear need for interest-only and have a sensible and credible repayment strategy in place.”
TSB
TSB has launched free standard valuations on all residential house purchases.
The affordable housing range will also see a number of rate changes for shared ownership and shared equity mortgages.
At the same time, the bank has made rate changes to products for home buyers and remortgage customers, including two-year and three-year rates reduced by 0.10% at 90-95% LTV.
Selected two-year and three-year house purchase and remortgage rates have increased by up to 0.10%.
Bluestone Mortgages
Bluestone Mortgages has extended its Help to Buy proposition to include Wales, joining the England and London schemes launched last month.
As part of this update, the lender has also extended the maximum mortgage term to 35 years.
Help to Buy products are available across all of Bluestone’s credit tiers, offered up to 75% LTV and cover two-, three- and five-year fixed rate mortgages as well as variable rate options. The maximum loan amount will be driven by the maximum property value available on the Help to Buy scheme, which is currently £300,000 for Wales.
Steve Seal, director of sales and marketing of Bluestone Mortgages, said: “We’re very aware of the challenges underserved borrowers face when trying to step onto the property ladder, for example those with credit issues, or complex and irregular sources of income.
“Like the rest of the England, there is a growing pool of these borrowers here in Wales, and we’re confident our range will help these customers benefit from the opportunity of the government’s Help to Buy scheme.”
NatWest
NatWest has made several changes to its buy to let calculations – including easing restrictions for high earners and renters taking out a buy-to-let mortgage.
The lender has reduced the minimum rental coverage ratio from 125% to 100% for customers whose total personal income is £75,000 per year or more.
Basic rate tax relief will now be applied for buy-to-let property finance costs when assessing affordability.
And NatWest added it had improved its approach to how it treated residential monthly rent payments for non-home owners when assessing affordability.
The lender may no longer require customers own income to cover both their own residential rental payments and the buy to let mortgage payments.
However, it is encouraging potential customers to contact it to see if this will apply to them.
