Every person in the country has suffered a little during the pandemic, especially with financial affairs. It was inevitable that the lockdowns, the closure of certain parts of the economy for periods and the uncertainty about how to live our lives safely would impact us.
Tuesday 28 September 2021 11:51 Press release
Whilst every situation is different, during the pandemic period, there have been some trends that have seen those seeking a mortgage have applications unnecessarily rejected through no fault of their own.
At Saffron Building Society we realised this and so have recently undertaken a thorough review of our policies and are pleased to announce a raft of policy updates that will align with the modern world, especially following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new policy updates provide applicants with a fair, common-sense approach to lending from the society, to make the application process fairer and allow the underwriting team more flexibility when assessing affordability for mortgages.
The policy updates that applicants and brokers should be aware of include:
- Self-employed support – the society has the option to exclude the pandemic year from affordability for businesses who traded for more than a year post-2020/21 financial year.
- Contractor support, including zero-hour contracts.
- A change in the Society's stance on adverse credit with discretion to accept up to £250 of unsatisfied CCJ's/Defaults.
- Flexibility on acreage of land, and its use.
- Updates on annexes – to coincide with growing interest in 2021
All the policy changes are available to mortgage brokers and financial advisors and were recently distributed to contacts of the society. If brokers are not signed up to receive updates from Saffron, they should visit the site and sign up as soon as possible.
The Saffron for Intermediaries team is dedicating a free, live, interactive CPD webinar to presenting the changes and answering direct questions from brokers on the policy changes. The webinar is live on Wednesday 13th October at 11am and is free to join. You can register here:
https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/saffronpolicyupdate
Sign up for and read the latest updates on all mortgages on the Saffron for Intermediaries website: www.saffronforintermediaries.co.uk