With an increase in the numbers of people setting up their own company and becoming self-employed BoS has made additions to its self-cert range with the introduction of two fixed rate self-cert products.
The £1 million self-cert product is available on mortgages up to 75 per cent LTV, with a senior underwriter assigned to each loan application of £500,000 or more.
Its two-year fixed rate product is available at 4.89 per cent, with 75 per cent LTV. An arrangement fee of £599 exists on the product with an early repayment charge of 4 per cent until April 2007, and 3 per cent until April 2008.
A three-year fixed rate product is also available at 4.89 per cent and 75 per cent LTV until 30 April 2009. Announcing BoS’s push into the self-cert sector, Charles Haresnape, managing director of Bank of Scotland Mortgages, said: “The self-cert market will continue to grow this year and Bank of Scotland’s new £1 million limit means it really is positioned to cater for all needs, no matter how complex.”
Mike Pendergast, IFA at Zen Financial Services, agreed the sector would be popular in 2006. He said: “More self-employed people and more frequent job changes mean that self-cert will become more and more necessary for an increasing majority of potential mortgages. Plus, it cuts down on the lender’s administration work, which in these days of streamlining is also a good thing. The likes of the Halifax no longer ask for income verification on cases below 75 per cent LTV for this reason. This can only continue and I can see self-cert becoming the norm rather than the exception in future.”
