This will be available to sole applicants earning at least £75,000 for purchase and remortgage purposes up to 75% loan to value (LTV) and joint applicants with a combined income of at least £100,000.
NatWest is also increasing the LTI from five times income to 5.5 times income for remortgage-only borrowers earning at least £40,000 per year.
The bank said the updated criteria could see someone earning £75,000 per year borrowing up to £37,500 more than previously.
Additionally, NatWest launched a dedicated WhatsApp channel for mortgage brokers and intermediaries this week.
The channel was launched on Monday and allows brokers to contact the NatWest Intermediaries team instantly for real-time guidance and support.
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The NatWest WhatsApp channel will provide support with pre-application guidance, post-application support, and basic administrative tasks such as password resets from the NatWest Broker Portal.
The support hub is available at: https://www.intermediary.natwest.com/intermediary-solutions/whatsapp.html
Lloyd Cochrane, head of mortgage propositions at NatWest Group, said the new lending criteria would help more people get the home or mortgage they needed.
He added: “As a major lender supporting the housing market in the UK, we are committed to championing homeownership, and today’s changes allow us to responsibly lend more to our mortgage customers.
“Alongside this, we have also launched a dedicated WhatsApp channel for mortgage brokers so that brokers can get instant access to our intermediaries team. We have launched this to make it even easier for brokers to work with us. All these moves support our goal of bringing more joy and less stress to the process of buying a home in the UK.”
Earlier this month, the bank cut selected new business, existing customer and additional borrowing rates by up to 0.11%.
Barclays cuts rates and adds two deals
Barclays has reduced mortgage rates for existing residential and buy-to-let (BTL) borrowers and launched a pair of deals.
The new products are within the residential range and include a two-year fixed purchase mortgage at 85% LTV with an £899 fee and a rate of 3.75%. There is also a remortgage two-year fix within its Premier range, also at 85% LTV, with a fee of 4.19%.
Barclays has also lowered rates across 38 mortgages, including the fee-free two-year fixed Premier purchase product at 85% LTV, which has been reduced from 4.15% to 3.97%, and the standard option, which has been cut from 4.2% to 4.02%.
At 90% LTV, the two-year fixed Premier purchase product at 90% LTV with a £999 fee has been lowered from 4.5% to 4.15%, while the standard corresponding product has been reduced from 4.55% to 4.2%. The fee-free standard alternative has been cut from 4.65% to 4.4%.
Barclays has also reduced selected three- and five-year fixed rates, as well as green home mortgage pricing.
Pricing in its existing customer reward range has been lowered, with changes applied to one-, two- and five-year fixes.
For BTL borrowers, selected two- and five-year fixed and tracker rates for existing borrowers have been reduced across deals at 60%, 65% and 75% LTV.
Changes apply from 29 January.
