West One Overhauls Residential Criteria to help a Wider Pool of Borrowers

Posted by West One on 7th January 2025 -

West One Loans will introduce two new credit tiers to its residential range as part of sweeping changes designed to help even more borrowers struggling to access mortgage finance.

The new Premier and Platinum tiers are aimed at borrowers who may fall outside of high street lending criteria because of historic credit issues or minor recent credit blips, or who have complex income requirements. They sit alongside the existing Prime Plus, Prime and Near Prime tiers.

West One’s new Premier plan will start from 5.89% while its Platinum tier will start from 5.99%, both of which are five-year fixed rates. New lower two-year fixed rate mortgages will also be available from 6.05% when the new products go live on Friday 22^nd November.

Going forward, each of the lender’s five credit tiers will come with their own maximum LTV, with the Premier tier having the highest (up to 95% LTV) and Near Prime (up to 75% LTV) the lowest. The changes also include increased LTVs for the lender’s Prime product, which will now be available up to 80% LTV.

The specialist lender is confident its new tier system will not only allow it to serve a larger range of customers but also make it easier for brokers to navigate its range.

As well as overhauling its credit tiers, the specialist lender will also introduce a series of major criteria enhancements at the same time.

As part of those enhancements, self-employed borrowers with a minimum of one year’s trading will now qualify for the lender’s Prime Plus tier, offering LTVs of up to 85%, which was previously restricted to 75% for self-employed borrowers with less than two years’ proof of income.

West One will also improve its criteria for borrowers with unsecured arrears across its newly introduced Premier and Platinum plans. From Friday, borrowers with unsecured accounts which have a maximum highest status of one missed payment in the past 12 months will be able to borrow up to 95% LTV while those with a maximum status of two missed payments will be able to borrow up to 90% LTV.

West One will also now remove the restriction of a maximum highest status of two missed payments for unsecured accounts in the last 12 months on its Prime Plus plan, with LTV’s available up to 85% LTV, subject to satisfactory explanations.

The lender has also made a series of criteria enhancements for borrowers with CCJ’s and defaults. This also now includes options for borrowers with small unsatisfied CCJ’s under £500 across all products.

From Friday, West One will extend their criteria for borrowers with a missed mortgage payment in the past year, which is now also permitted on their Prime Product, as long as it was more than six months ago, offering LTV’s up to 80% LTV.

It will also consider applications from borrowers who have taken out a payday loan more than 12 months ago on its Prime Plus plan (previously zero in 24 months) and those who have taken one out more than six months ago on its Prime plan (previously zero in 12 months).

Borrowers looking to purchase through an affordable housing scheme, such as Shared Ownership and Right to Buy, will be able to benefit from improved Prime Plus criteria from Friday. Self-employed borrowers will also be able to apply through one of these scheme’s as long as they have one year’s trading history.

Further, West One will introduce a single fixed £1,795 arrangement fee across the range, which will be of particular benefit for borrowers seeking larger loans. However, the lender has also boosted the number of fees assisted products, which come with no arrangement fee.

These changes follow on from a number of recent process enhancements, including the removal of the mortgage application and the introduction of a series of streamlined underwriting requirements.

Marie Grundy, Managing Director of Residential Mortgages & Second Charges at West One Loans, says: “This is one of the most significant set of changes we have made to our range since we entered the residential market a little over two years ago.

“By introducing two new credit tiers and more accommodative criteria for those borrowers with less than a perfect credit profile, we will be able to help an even greater number of customers who may fail to meet the criteria of High Street lenders or who have complex income requirements.

“As an intermediary-only lender, brokers are the lifeblood of our business. And while we believe these changes will provide valuable solutions to borrowers struggling to gain access to finance, they will also make navigating our range far simpler for advisers, freeing them up to do what they do best – provide good quality advice to their clients.

“We said at the start of this year that we would overhaul our range throughout 2024 in a bid to become the lender of choice in this area of the market – and we have. But we have plenty of other additions and enhancements to come, so watch this space.”