Vida will focus on the self-employed, contractors and people with short work histories.
New intermediary-only lender Vida Homeloans is piloting its residential and buy-to-let mortgages through packagers 3mc, the Buy to Let Club and RHL after gaining Financial Conduct Authority approval last month.
Vida will focus on the self-employed, contractors and people with short work histories. It will also provide loans for two to four applicants buying together and people borrowing in or into retirement.
Its buy-to-let range will accept applications from individuals, limited companies and trading partnerships. Its criteria will also allow portfolios, houses in multiple occupation, UK expats investing in the UK and a rental top up option, allowing surplus earned income to be used in the rental calculation.
Its chief executive David Tweedy most recently helddirectorial at Target Group, Ulster Bank and the Co-operative.
He said: “Vida Homeloans is 100% committed to serving the intermediary channel.
“We aspire to become a genuine business partner for intermediaries, providing them with the products and tools they need to write appropriate, profitable business and to help their customers achieve their property dreams.
“There is a significant segment of the market in the UK at the moment that cannot secure a mortgage due to their financial or personal circumstances.
“These underserved pockets of the UK market often find themselves held back due to their choice of career - especially freelancers and the self-employed, or by a life event or credit impairment.
“We know there’s demand among the intermediary community to help these customers, and that’s what Vida Homeloans is all about.”
Vida will consider both residential customers and buy-to-let investors who have an impaired but improving credit record on a case-by-case basis.
Guy Batchelor, its sales and marketing director, was previously managing director of corporate business at Countrywide and before that executive director of sales and marketing at Lehman Brothers.
He said: “After 12 months building this new lender, it’s a great feeling to finally tell the market what we have been working on and to confirm that our pre-launch pilot has begun.
“I would like to thank the mortgage intermediaries who have assisted us in this process and we’re now looking forward to fully testing the Vida Homeloans proposition in the market before rolling out further to wider distribution over time.
“We also continue to look at the second charge market and will update our partners in due course.”
Vida Homeloans is the trading name of Belmont Green.
