The bank previously standardised rates across products, meaning first-time buyers, home movers and remortgagors were offered similar pricing.
As of today, residential products for first-time buyers and home movers have been reduced by up to 0.30 per cent.
This includes the two-year fixed 90 per cent loan to value (LTV) product with a £999 fee, which has been reduced by 0.30 per cent to 2.99 per cent. The fee saver equivalent received an equal reduction and is now priced at 3.19 per cent.
The two-year fixed 90 per cent LTV product with a £999 fee was cut also by 0.30 per cent, to 1.99 per cent, and the alternative at 85 per cent LTV was reduced by 0.20 per cent to 1.74 per cent.
For remortgaging customers, the two-year fixed product at 90 per cent LTV with a £999 fee was reduced by 0.15 per cent to 2.14 per cent, while the fee-free option has been cut from 2.49 per cent to 2.44 per cent.
The lender’s product transfer deals are also now 0.10 per cent cheaper than equivalent mortgages for new borrowers and buy-to-let deals have been reduced by up to 0.15 per cent.
Elsewhere, rates for two and five-year fixed fee saver products at 70 and 75 per cent LTV have increased, as have standard and premier exclusive rates at 60, 70 and 75 per cent LTV.
Michelle Andrews (pictured), HSBC UK’s head of buying a home, said: “I am pleased to confirm that we have introduced differential pricing by buyer type which will enable us to be more dynamic in our approach to help more customers, whether this be taking their first step on the property ladder or looking to remortgage their existing property for a lower monthly cost.
“Also, by expanding our mortgage range and moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to mortgage rates, existing customers will also be able to benefit from enjoying the very best of our mortgage rates through our switcher range of products”.
The lender said that it would accept applications from self-employed borrowers who had received an SEISS grant as long as it was not in the last three months.
In an update to its criteria it added that brokers will no longer need to complete a mandatory self-employed application submission sheet and the self-employed triage team will not have to complete an affordability check.
The lender continued that it would use an average of the last two years or the most recent year’s income, whichever was lower, and look at the last three months’ business bank statements to assess its ability to sustain a declared level of income.
NatWest previously said that it would not accept applications from customers who have applied for an SEISS grant on or after 14 July 2020 but said that it would unveil a new criteria change in August.
Brokers speaking to Mortgage Solutions have also expressed dissatisfaction with the options available to self-employed borrowers over the past year.
However, lenders have started to soften their criteria, with HSBC announcing earlier this week that it would no longer ask self-employed applicants to provide bank statement from the first three months of 2020.
Santander and Bluestone Mortgages have also announced that they would not look at accounts for the 2020/21 financial year.
The bank previously requested this information to compare how businesses were performing before the pandemic to their trading levels now by asking for the latest 60 days of statements.
HSBC will now ask for just the latest three months’ bank statements and two years of accounts.
The bank will still deduct grants and loan repayments from an applicant’s net profit to determine affordability.
A HSBC spokesperson: “In order to support self-employed mortgage applicants we have updated our policy, making it easier and quicker for them to get a mortgage with us, whilst ensuring we have the information needed to make an appropriate affordability assessment.”
HSBC is the latest lender to relax its rules for self-employed borrowers and is among Santander and Bluestone.
This rate is offered at 60 per cent loan to value (LTV) for a two-year fix with a £999 fee. The maximum loan size is £5m.
This is a rate reduction of five basis points (bps).
The three and five-year fixed alternatives both have a rate of 0.99 per cent, down from 1.09 per cent. For premium borrowers, the five-year fixed product at 60 per cent LTV with a £1,499 fee has a rate of 0.96 per cent.
Rate reductions for new borrowers have been made up to 80 per cent LTV, while products for existing customers have been cut up to 90 per cent LTV.
This includes the two-year fixed 85 per cent LTV mortgage, which is priced at 1.89 per cent with a £999 fee and 2.14 per cent with no fee. These represent rate cuts of 0.10 per cent and 0.15 per cent respectively.
For a five-year fixed rate mortgage, a fee-free product at 85 per cent LTV is set to 2.59 per cent while the £999 fee paying product has a rate of 2.29 per cent.
At 90 per cent LTV, the fee-free two-year fixed product has a rate of 2.49 per cent, and the £999 fee paying option has a rate of 2.29 per cent.
Across five-year fixes, the 90 per cent LTV alternatives are priced at 3.09 with no fee and 2.79 per cent with a £999 fee.
Changes are effective from today.
The Building Safety Information Portal, which was launched last year allows, homeowners, buyers, sellers, valuers and lenders to search and submit EWS1 forms.
However, professionals have been slow to upload them with around 6,000 existing forms not yet submitted to the platform according to UK Finance.
According to the FIA user guide, in order to use the platform signatories need to register and pay £200 plus VAT for their application to be processed, thereafter there is a £25 plus VAT annual fee to maintain the registrations.
The EWS1 forms are then submitted and reviewed by the FIA and cost £150 plus VAT every time a form is submitted by PDF or £100 plus VAT for each form if it submitted online.
EWS1 forms were introduced in 2019 to address concerns of external cladding following the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.
However, there has been confusion about when a form is required by lenders and increased demand coupled with fewer fire professionals have led to some delays.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) issued new guidance in March which outlined when a form was needed, which housing minister Christopher Pincher said has freed 500,000 leaseholders from needing to obtain the form.
Brokers canvassed by this publication said that EWS1 lender requests were still a “grey area” and “mess” despite the new guidance.
UK Finance’s mortgages director Charles Roe said: “These forms are vitally important for anyone looking to buy, sell or remortgage homes in a multi-storey building. The financial backing and support of the seven lenders is a positive step to keep the housing market moving for flats and apartments.
“In addition, it will improve transparency and access to building safety information for everyone involved in the home-buying process.”
The lender’s previous low had been a two-year fixed rate priced at 0.99 per cent which was capped at 60 per cent loan to value (LTV). It was introduced in June and was the first time in five years that the lender had brought in a sub-one per cent mortgage option.
The latest rate changes include a 0.05 per cent reduction on a two-year fixed rate at 60 per cent LTV, taking the cost down to 0.94 per cent. The rate for its fee-saver equivalent has also been decreased by 0.1 per cent to 1.14 per cent.
The lender’s two-year fixed rate at 85 per cent LTV has been cut by 0.3 per cent to 1.99 per cent, the lowest since 2020. The fee-saver equivalent has been reduced by the same amount to 2.29 per cent.
HSBC’s two-year fixed rate at 90 per cent LTV will now stand at 2.49 per cent, down from 2.79 per cent. The lender says this is the lowest rate for the product since it was re-introduced in January.
Other rate changes include its mortgage guarantee scheme product, which is a two-year fixed rate at 95 per cent LTV. This has been decreased from 3.59 per cent to 3.39 per cent.
The lender’s five-year fixed rate product at 75 per cent LTV has been reduced by 0.2 per cent to 1.20 per cent, whilst its five-year fixed rate at 90 per cent LTV has been cut by 0.25 per cent to 2.99 per cent.
All the non-fee-saver products are subject to a £999 fee.
HSBC UK’s head of buying a home Michelle Andrews said: “We have made significant rate cuts across our fixed term mortgages, continuing our support for all buyer types whether they are first-time buyers as they look to take their first step on the property ladder alongside those also looking at moving up the ladder with their next home, or those whose fixed-rate deals are coming to an end and looking for a new deal.”
