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Skipton BS offers positive changes to self-employed criteria

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  • 06/12/2021
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Skipton BS offers positive changes to self-employed criteria
Skipton has announced it will be reverting back to its pre-Covid lending policy for self-employed contractors.

From today, clients will only need a minimum of one month remaining on their current contract instead of three.

Change to buy-to-let (BTL) income coverage ratio (ICR)

BTL pound-for-pound remortgages have also changed for portfolio landlords, and will now be calculated using an ICR of 125 per cent rather than the previous 145 per cent, at 5.5 per cent or five per cent if five-years fixed or longer.

John Scrivens, regional manager at Skipton, said: “We’re pleased to announce these changes to our lending criteria, to support you to help more of your clients own their own homes. It’s all part of our mission to make things easier for you.”

Lending limit raised in October

Over the last six months, the mutual has made a raft of rate changes. It confirmed its recent move to raise its lending limit to 95 per cent loan to value (LTV) for new-build properties and widen its loan to income ratio to 4.49 for households earning £40,000 or less and in need of more than 85 per cent LTV in October of this year.

It also announced that borrowers applying for a mortgage of 75 per cent LTV with an income of £80,000 or less and where there is any element of interest only are still be able to achieve a mortgage of 4.75 times their earnings.

Skipton also made rate reductions across its residential and BTL ranges of up to 0.62 per cent during October, and selected rate increases of up to 0.35 per cent as well as increasing the maximum LTV for its joint borrower sole proprietor (JBSP), three and four-person, family purchase and tenant purchase applications.

Relaunch of the new build range

In September, Skipton returned to lending at 95 per cent LTV with a range of fixed rate products, a two-year fixed rate priced at 3.74 per cent and five-year fixed rate at 3.76 per cent. At the time, Rachel Hunnisett, new build lead at Skipton, noted that the scale of recent house price growth meant that the amount first-time buyers need to save as a deposit as rocketed.

It also launched a limited range of limited edition mortgages above 85 per cent LTV in August with rates below three per cent as well as announcing changes to its variable income criteria which covered bonuses, overtime and sales commission, increasing the amount that customers can borrow.

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