Rate and criteria changes announced by Atom Bank

August 30, 2023 by Brendan O'Neill

Lenders

Mortgage lender Atom Bank has confirmed that it is introducing a number of changes to its product criteria as well as rate reductions, with the aim of making them more affordable for people.

Among the criteria changes are an increase in the income multiples for borrowers who are self-employed. For individuals with £75,000 per year income or couples with £100,000 per year income, they are now set at 5.5x instead of 4.49x. The bank has also raised the allowable variable income threshold to 70% from 50% with the aim of helping self-employed people with fluctuating incomes to afford loans.

Furthermore, Atom has raised the top loan that people can apply for on its 85% and 80% LTV mortgages to £1 million. For the 95% and 90% Prime mortgages, the maximum is now set at £750,000.

The hope is that people in areas where property prices are highest, like the South East and London, will be able to benefit from this. Most of them will not be eligible for the mortgage guarantee scheme, as the property price cap for that is £600,000.

A number of rate reductions have also been confirmed, including as much as 0.25% on some of the Prime mortgage loans.

Its mortgages head Richard Harrison stated that the company was constantly looking for ways to increase the number of people who can afford one of its mortgages.

This will be greeted warmly by most advisors with CeMAP training as the mortgage market is particularly difficult for self-employed borrowers at the moment.