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Vida changes Help to Buy and BTL criteria and adds key worker product

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  • 24/01/2022
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Vida changes Help to Buy and BTL criteria and adds key worker product
Vida has changed its Help to Buy and buy-to-let (BTL) criteria and relaunched 90 per cent loan to value (LTV) residential products in a bid to help more people own a home, including creating a bespoke mortgage for key workers.

The key worker product allows borrowers to access five and a half times their total income up to 90 per cent LTV.

Only one applicant needs to be a key worker, and there is an added benefit of a discount on its initial rate compared to the standard range. 

Key worker roles that are eligible include armed forces, teachers including primary, secondary and sixth form teachers as well as college, university lecturers and professors. It also accepts NHS clinicians and nursing staff, ambulance drivers, paramedics, police officers and firefighters.

Self-employed individuals, contractors and supply staff employed via agencies are not eligible.

The lender has also relaunched 90 per cent LTV mortgages on all residential houses and flats including new builds. This will help those struggling to gather a larger deposit. 

In addition, it has included a residential fee saver range, including a free valuation on all properties up to £500,000, no product fee and a £250 contribution towards legal fees. Vida said this would help first-time buyers get on the property ladder.

Criteria changes

Vida has also improved their BTL range so loans are available up to 85 per cent LTV for both personal and special purpose vehicles (SPV) purchasers. This means smaller deposits are required for each property.

The lender added there was no minimum income on BTL mortgages if the property was self-funding and that the range also included a BTL fee saver option on its five-year loans.

The BTL range also offers a free valuation on all properties up to £1m, a reduced product fee of £1,495 and a £250 contribution towards legal fees paid on completion.

Vida said its flex product range offered the security of a five-year fixed deal with early repayment fees limited to the first three years.  

On the Help to Buy side, its range is now available across all lending tiers, which will allow borrowers who may have had “challenges with their credit file”  to use the government’s shared equity scheme.

Richard Tugwell (pictured), Vida’s director of mortgage distribution, said: “As a lending specialist, Vida is now a forward looking and nimble business, and our aim is to ensure we consistently deliver a first-class intermediary experience and provide a great range of product options for broker’s clients.

“We continually look to evolve the products that we offer them and these most recent criteria changes are the most radical in our seven year history. They take account of the fast moving pace of the mortgage sector and we are confident that these will provide great solutions to borrowers who are cut out of traditional mainstream lending.”

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