Hanley Economic Building Society is making a raft of criteria changes including reducing its credit window for defaults and county court judgements (CCJ), agency workers and lending on cladding flats.
The lender said that, following broker feedback, it has extended its credit window for defaults and CCJs from six to three years, which means most credit impairments can be ignored if they are over three years old.
The firm said that cases would still be assessed on an individual basis.
Hanley Economic BS will also accept agency workers and they will be underwritten on the same basis as zero hour contract workers and NHS staff bank.
As part of this, applicants must have been continuously employed for at least 12 months with the same agency and have a contract of employment in place.
Additionally, the mutual can now lend on flats if the property has been built post-January 2020.
David Lownds (pictured), head of products and marketing at Hanley Economic Building Society, said: “In a time when borrowing needs are constantly evolving, it’s vital that we, as a lender, regularly assess where we can implement positive change to better support these needs.
“The pandemic impacted many different people in many different ways and we all appreciate that life events can happen at any given time. As a mutual, we pride ourselves on being able to offer a range of property-related solutions to credit-worthy borrowers – even those with historic issues – in a responsible manner when and where possible.
He continued: “We hope these criteria enhancements will be well received by our intermediary partners as they were formulated on the back of their valued feedback.”
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
