As part of the changes, Beacon has reduced its rental income to 110 per cent. It has also confirmed that it is to base its income calculation on initial pay rate, while the lender has also enhanced its loan-to-value limits to 85 per cent for its heavy and fast-track customers.
As part of its medium adverse range, Beacon has confirmed those remortgaging will be eligible for loans up to 90 per cent LTV.
Jeremy Russ, head of marketing and compliance at the Beacon Group, said: “With more and more borrowers looking to the non-conforming sector for assistance, these changes bring our offering even further in line with the finance options widely available to main stream borrowers. We strongly believe that borrowers who are self-employed or who have faced financial difficulties in the past, should have the same access to finance as those who have not and we hope these criteria changes go some way to achieving this.”
Elizabeth Smith, mortgage adviser at Money Plus, said: “On the face of it, it appears to be an attractive deal, but if you ally it to the high interest rates that Beacon charges, even on the near-prime range, it renders the whole exercise rather pointless, as the rental income on a typical deal of 85 per cent on £150,000 would have to be £1,010, which is simply unattainable.”
