Despite then difficulty many property buyers face in obtaining a mortgage there are some lenders who have been easing their criteria for borrowers.
At Aliance & Leicester they are currently (November 2009) offering up to SIX TIMES you annual salary based on the borrower earning £60,000 and having no other financial commitments. This is a huge multiple considering the current difficulties in the financial markets.
Whilst Aliance & Leicester are the leading lender in terms of lending the most on multiples of salary there are some other banks who are offering fairly high multiples for the current climate. One is Woolwich who are offering 5 times salary, and even the tax-payer owned Northern Rock is offering 4.5 times salary.
It seems that these higher multiples for mortgages currently being offered are based on new lending criteria where banks are placing more emphasis on affordability, e.g. understanding a borrower’s disposable income and the maximum lending that is safe to support.
It also seems that LTVs are improving with 90% and even 100% LTV products currently available. The only issue tends to be that the higher LTV mortgages carry a higher rate of interest, if you want the best deals you still need a sizable deposit.
