The move to affordability based-lending by A&L is supported by a new affordability calculator, available for brokers 24 hours a day, which instantly confirms the maximum amount it is willing to lend a customer based on a number of questions.
It signals a more advanced bespoke lending approach based on customers’ personal circumstances, such as individual monthly spending patterns and disposable income.
Brokers can obtain a fully credit scored decision in principle (DIP) online within minutes. This online DIP service has been enhanced to provide a bespoke maximum loan lending decision and brokers can print a mortgage certificate for their client which is binding for 28 days.
Merhdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at A&L, explained many affordability calculators are based on ‘average assumptions’ of customers’ disposable income according to region, age and a number of dependants but the A&L proposition provides a ‘more realistic and accurate’ decision based on the individual’s circumstances and then offers a maximum loan amount.
He said: “Our new approach will benefit brokers by saving them time and enabling them to undertake more business. In a matter of minutes and a few clicks of the mouse, they will be able to provide their clients with a reliable maximum amount that A&L will lend them.”
Mark Chiltern, chief executive of Purely Mortgages, said: “More and more lenders are going down the affordability route. However, A&L’s proposition is more progressive – with the binding mortgage decision on the maximum loan amount clients know how much they can borrow even before they have chosen their property.”
Andy Frankish, managing director at Mortgage Talk, said: “This is the way I would like to see lending going as long as brokers advise on the products in a responsible manner.”
