From March 28 the bank will no longer accept the sale of a second property, pensions, the sale of a second property, bonuses or cash savings as repayment vehicles.
It will now only accept the sale of a primary property, with a minimum buffer of £100,000 required between the current property value and the total loan or;
An existing endowment or mortgage linked ISA which must have been held for at least 12 months. Santander will allow the midpoint projection at maturity.
Existing investment plans are also permitted but with no growth projection or future funding predictions allowed for and they must also have been professionally managed and held for at least 12 months.
The total value of investments must be at least equal to the total loan.
Mixing sale of property and investments is not possible.
A spokeswoman at Santander said: “The changes affect new residential mortgage applications only. Existing customers not moving home and not looking to borrow more are unaffected by these changes.
“We constantly review our lending policy to ensure that we are lending responsibly. We believe these changes are prudent in today’s challenging economic environment and follow recent competitor changes in this area.”
