Virgin Money will launch residential exclusive deals and change its retirement policies, while Gen H cuts fixed-rate prices by up to 20 basis points across its new business ranges.
The high street bank will introduce:
Exclusive purchase products with a free valuation
- 80% loan to value two-year fixes, with an £895 fee, at 4.69%
- 80% LTV two-year fee-saver fixes at 4.95%.
- 80% LTV five-year fixes, with an £895 fee, at 4.51%
- 80% LTV five-year fee-saver fixes at 4.62%
These loans will be launched tomorrow (21 January), while today the lender will lift other exclusive, purchase and remortgage products by up to 12bps.
These include:
Purchase
- 95% LTV five-year fee-saver fixes will be increased by 12bps to 5.31%
Exclusive purchase
- 80% LTV fix and switch fee-saver options will be increased by 9bps to 4.99%
Also, Virgin Bank and its sister firm Clydesdale Bank will align their lending into retirement policies.
The pair will now use a customer’s 71st birthday or their chosen retirement age, whichever is earlier.
They add that for customers who need a mortgage term that extends into retirement, the income they will use for our affordability checks depends on how far from retirement they are.
They explain that if retirement is more than 10 years away, the firms will “use their current income for our affordability checks. Plus, we’ll need to see proof that they’re paying into a pension.”
If retirement is less than 10 years away, or the customer has already retired, their “affordability checks will be based on their current income or retirement income, whichever is lower”.
Clydesdale Bank adds that the maximum age for its mortgages has increased from 75, to 75 and 364 days.
Meanwhile, Gen H has announced a series of rate reductions aimed at its new business ranges, which follows the soft launch of its new intermediary website.
The changes, which come to market at 5.30pm today (20 January), cover:
- Two-year rates will fall by up to 15bps
- Three-year rates will fall by up to 20bps
- Five-year high-LTV rates will decrease by 5bps
The specialist lender says brokers find these rates on its website and proprietary broker platform Gen H Pro.
Gen H chief commercial officer says: “Gen H is built to embrace complexity in customer circumstances, to underwrite sensibly and flexibly, and to open doors that would otherwise remain closed with our booster products.”