Criteria changes announced by Hanley Economic BS

December 26, 2025 by Brendan O'Neill

Lenders

Hanley Economic Building Society has announced that it has made a number of adjustments to its lending criteria, which are aimed at making its products more accessible.

One of the most important changes is to the mortgage products in its residential slate. These will no longer be subject to a fixed loan-to-income cap. Instead of using that when conducting affordability assessments, the mortgage lender will now evaluate this using information about earnings and expenses that is more comprehensive and nuanced. This should open these loans up to a broader selection of potential borrowers.

People who are self-employed and wish to apply for one of the loans will be able to do so as long as long as they have been trading for a minimum 12 months. They will be evaluated on the same terms as day rate employees who have the same amount of experience.

Another big change is that Hanley BS will now consider second job earnings when evaluating affordability. For self-employed people, this will be after a two-year period, while for those who are employed, it will be one year. When it comes to overtime, the rule will be two years for everyone.

Ollie Slimm works for Hanley BS. Talking to Mortgage Strategy, he stated that the lender’s criteria needed to fit contemporary work patterns, before adding:

“By introducing greater flexibility around how we assess income, employment and affordability, we’re giving brokers more scope to place those cases that need closer consideration.”

Advisors with CeMAP training will welcome anything that makes borrowing easier for the self-employed.