Virgin Money improves criteria for mortgage products

November 4, 2021 by Alan

Lenders

Virgin Money is making several changes to the criteria for its products, with these including revised options for borrowers with bad credit and better loan-to-values (LTVs) on new-build loans.

When it comes to newly built houses, the maximum LTV that will now be available is 90%, while with new-build flats, the figure will be 80%. The LTV for those buying a share of a new build, rather than full ownership, will still be a maximum 95% of whatever property share is being bought.

When a borrower is taking out a mortgage from Virgin Money that has an 85% LTV, the company is indicating that cash incentives from the house builder up to a maximum of 5% will be accepted without this affecting the mortgage. If the LTV is higher than 85%, any such cash incentive will be taken off the price that the buyer is paying for the property.

Virgin Money has also taken steps to make its policy regarding bonuses more straightforward for borrowers. From now on, it will use a borrower’s work bonus from the current year when calculating whether they can afford a particular mortgage or not. It has also scrapped the requirement for such bonuses to have been paid later than December 2nd.

In addition, the lender has introduced a number of changes to its policy for borrowers who have small credit rating problems to make it more possible for them to get a mortgage.

These changes should make it easier for advisors with a CeMAP qualification to help clients.