It means the bank will not accept new mortgage applications from people looking to consolidate debts if they are on a payment holiday with their current lender or if they are taking a repayment break on credit cards or unsecured loans.

The change, which takes effect from today, is said to be a short-term policy.

The lender will consider applications for debt consolidation when customers have made at least one payment following any payment holiday.

NatWest is not expecting brokers to proactively review their pipeline and cases already submitted will only be affected if there is a material change to the application.

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The change comes after all lenders signed up to UK Finance pledged to provide product transfers to customers on mortgage holidays.

Colin Payne, associate director at Chapelgate private finance, said: “It’s not unsurprising that NatWest has ceased to consider debt consolidation cases for those borrowers on payment holidays, but they’ve made a point of explaining it is temporary which is important as they are an extremely flexible lender when considering debt consolidation.”