Your guide to Skipton for intermediaries

There are several banks and traditional mortgage lenders in the United Kingdom. Mortgage brokers, also known as intermediaries, build partnerships with these lenders to find the best home loan for their clients. They check the mortgage products and services offered by each lender so that they can weigh the pros and cons.

Aside from commercial banks and the usual lenders, intermediaries can choose to work with building societies when scouring the market for the best mortgage offerings. One example is Skipton Building Society. This financial institution has an intermediary-only platform where brokers can create an account for easier access to Skipton’s tools and services.

Want to learn more about Skipton for intermediaries? In this article, Mortgage Introducer will explore everything you need to know about this mortgage lender. We will discuss the home loan products offered by Skipton for intermediaries as well as the eligibility criteria. Read on if you are curious to find out if this is the right lender for you and your clients.

What is Skipton for intermediaries?

Skipton for intermediaries is the intermediary-only platform of the Skipton Building Society, a financial institution that operates in Skipton, North Yorkshire. It has a wide range of home loan products which are exclusively offered to intermediaries across the country.

Skipton for intermediaries also has a website dedicated to mortgage brokers. In this online portal, intermediaries can find everything they need—from Skipton’s mortgage products and eligibility criteria to helpful tools and a FAQs page. Skipton for intermediaries is a good choice not only for you but for the top mortgage intermediaries in the UK.

Our job is to make things easier for you, so we stay in touch with clear and timely communications.

Find out more about how we could help you: https://t.co/MwEsbeGnAz pic.twitter.com/i1jsdNaWB3

— Skipton Building Society for Intermediaries (@SBSIntermediary) October 3, 2023

Background of Skipton Building Society

The Skipton Building Society is the fourth largest building society in the UK. Skipton Building Society also owns Skipton International, a mortgage bank established in Guernsey. It was formed in 2009 by merging Skipton Guernsey and Scarborough Channel Islands.

The Skipton Building Society is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA. They are also a member of the Building Societies Association.

How does Skipton help intermediaries?

Intermediaries can expect award winning service from Skipton for intermediaries. Their online portal is designed for easy access to their mortgage offerings. Like any other lender, they also provide an affordability calculator that intermediaries can use to find out how much their clients can borrow to buy a property.

The difference, however, is that Skipton for intermediaries boasts not just one calculator but four. Check out the other three below:

Monthly payments calculator

Mortgage brokers can compare up to three different mortgages to see how different interest rates might affect their clients' monthly payments.

Flexible mortgage calculator

If you want to know how much your clients could save by making overpayments on their mortgage, use this calculator.

Buy to let calculator

For clients who are interested in Skipton’s buy to let mortgage, you can use this to check if they are likely to meet Skipton’s affordability criteria.

Do you want to learn more about what Skipton for intermediaries can do for you and why you should partner with them? Check out this short clip where Paul Fenn, Skipton’s Director of Business Development, talks about how Skipton for intermediaries can help you and your clients:

Products offered by Skipton for intermediaries

Just like other banks and mortgage lenders, Skipton for intermediaries offers residential and buy to let property loans for borrowers.

For residential purposes, Skipton for intermediaries offers fixed rate mortgages, tracker mortgages, and remortgaging options. They also have other home loans such as:

• first homes England Scheme
• first time buyers’ mortgage
• green additional borrowing products
• track record mortgage

For buy to let mortgage, Skipton for intermediaries offers:

• lending up to 75% LTV
• a maximum loan amount of £1.5 million per case
• no charge for a mortgage valuation for mortgage purposes where the property is worth less than £1.5 million on all buy to let applications, whether purchase and remortgage
• lending to individual landlords with portfolios of up to ten properties; maximum of five mortgaged with Skipton

For all buy to let applications, gifted deposits will be accepted. As for the taxpayers’ basic rate, it is stressed at 125% at 7.94% or 6.04% if taking a fixed product of five years or more. Applicants are also allowed to use 100% of their rental income.

Boosters for home loans

Skipton for intermediaries offers two boosters that can help your clients achieve their dream of homeownership:

• income booster proposition
• new build proposition

If you want to add co-signers to your clients’ mortgages, you can get the income booster proposition for their benefit. If they want to purchase an off-plan house or a recently constructed property, try the new build proposition.

Income booster proposition

The Income Booster proposition or Joint Borrower, Sole Proprietor (JBSP) allows your clients to add up to three extra co-signers to a mortgage. In other words, Skipton for intermediaries can accept up to four applicants in one mortgage application. This means that more people will share the burden of paying for the mortgage, but they are not joined as legal owners of the property.

For instance, the Income Booster proposition allows friends or family to join the mortgage. Skipton for intermediaries can consider all four incomes to help calculate how much your client can afford.

New build proposition

If your client is bent on buying a newly built property, Skipton encourages intermediaries to apply for the new build proposition. They accept applications for up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV) for New Build houses and flats.

For New Build houses, Skipton for intermediaries’ track record mortgage can be used to borrow up to 100% LTV. However, it is not applicable for New Build flats.

Learn more about the New Build proposition in this video. Find out how this service can make things easier for Skipton’s intermediary partners:

Skipton’s eligibility criteria

For clients who are first-time home buyers, Skipton for intermediaries offers a home loan for eligible borrowers for the government’s First Homes England scheme. Your clients can qualify for this mortgage if they meet the following criteria:

• they must be first-time home buyers
• they must not have a household income that exceeds £90,000, if London based; £80,000 if outside London
• they will need to have a mortgage (or home purchase plan) in place for at least 50% of the discounted purchase value

It is possible for your clients to get big discounts on house prices of between 30% and 50% if they are eligible for the First Homes scheme. This is in comparison to the market price set by an independent valuer.

For the downpayment, your clients will need to have at least 5% of the discounted price available to put down as a deposit. A mortgage in place of at least 50% of the discounted price is also required.

Check out this video featuring Jen Lloyd, Skipton’s Head of Mortgage Products, as she gives her insight on the challenges facing first-time buyers and the broader mortgage market:

Buy to let mortgages

For buy to let applicants, a minimum guaranteed earned income of £45,000 or £60,000 for joint applications is required. This is for landlords with real estate portfolios of four or more buy to let properties that are already mortgaged.

If your client has rental income, it can also be included in the total. They must also complete and submit the Skipton for intermediaries’ simple portfolio cash flow document.

Income requirement

Skipton for intermediaries accepts various types of income from applicants. Here are some examples:

• permanent basic income
• contractual income
• working tax credits
• child tax credits
• pensions
• war widows’ pension
• armed forces compensation scheme
• armed forces independent payment
• survivors’ guaranteed income payment
• universal credits excluding housing benefit element

Acceptable personal IDs

Interested applicants must submit proof of identity to qualify for Skipton for intermediaries’ mortgage offerings. They accept these identification documents:

• current signed passport
• current UK full or provisional photo-card driving licence
• current full (not provisional) UK (old style, paper based) driving licence
• current full European Union photo-card driver's licence
• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Tax Notification
• evidence of entitlement to state benefit, pension, tax credit etc.
• signed firearms certificate
• UK residence permit

Skipton for intermediaries promotes safety

As an additional safety measure, Skipton encourages intermediaries to speak out through a confidential whistleblowing arrangement if necessary. You can raise your concerns through Safecall, Skipton for intermediaries’ independent reporting service. This is where you can contact any member of their Nominated Report Recipients. This is Skipton for intermediaries’ whistleblowing panel.

According to Skipton for intermediaries, you only need a reasonable belief that something is not right to report. Evidence of such belief is not immediately required. You can report your concerns if you suspect the following illegalities:

• bribery, fraud or other criminal offence
• miscarriage of justice
• risk to colleague or public health and safety
• risk or actual damage to the environment
• breach of any other legal or professional obligation
• discriminatory behaviour
• someone is covering up wrongdoing

Skipton for intermediaries’ tools and support for brokers

Aside from the online portal and easy access to Skipton for intermediaries’ mortgage products, they also have additional tools and support for their intermediary partners. They have the Skipton Talks page where they offer videos and articles that are helpful for mortgage brokers, especially the neophytes in the industry.

There are four categories under Skipton Talks:

• first time buyers
• the mortgage market
• Skipton insights
• helping brokers and clients

Under these categories, Skipton for intermediaries provides webinars where interested intermediaries can register to join. They even have podcast episodes where they invite credible personalities to talk about relevant topics that can benefit intermediaries in the UK.

Listen to this podcast episode about mortgages and wellbeing:

Why choose Skipton for intermediaries

Partnering with Skipton for intermediaries is a smart move for intermediaries who want to boost their career. Not only will you be able to help your client achieve their goal of securing the right mortgage, but you will also increase your credibility.

Skipton Building Society is already an established financial institution. Working with them can place you in a better position of succeeding in the mortgage industry.

If you feel that Skipton for intermediaries is not the right fit, you can go to our overviews of other services from UK lenders’ intermediaries:

• Your guide to Accord for intermediaries
• Your guide to Aldermore for intermediaries
• Your guide to Barclays for intermediaries
• Your guide to Coventry for intermediaries
• Your guide to HSBC for intermediaries
• Your guide to Leeds for intermediaries
• Your guide to Nationwide for intermediaries
• Your guide to NatWest for intermediaries

Would you like to partner with Skipton for intermediaries? Why or why not? Comment your insights in the space provided below.