Marsden BS revamps expat lending criteria
Marsden Building Society has revised its expat mortgage criteria, removing several documentation requirements and widening its approach to country eligibility.
The mutual has simplified its expat buy-to-let (BTL) proposition by scrapping its minimum income requirement and reducing the level of documentation needed from both employed and self-employed applicants.
Self-employed borrowers will now only need to provide one year’s accounts, rising to two years where top-slicing is used. Meanwhile, employed applicants will only need to submit their latest payslip.
In addition, Marsden Building Society has removed the requirement for a mandatory employer’s reference on BTL applications, which it said would help streamline the application process.
Country eligibility moves to real-time assessment
Its policy on country eligibility has also been updated, replacing its previous country exclusions list with an assessment process based on real-time data from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
£2.5m paid to help broker clients benefit from greener homes
Sponsored by Halifax Intermediaries
Under the revised criteria, applications will not be accepted from customers living in, or with financial links to, countries included on the FATF’s high-risk and increased monitoring lists.
The mutual will also continue to decline applications from residents of EU and EEA countries, due to the absence of service agreements, and from Australian residents because of legislative restrictions.
Alongside the expat lending changes, Marsden Building Society has simplified requirements for additional borrowing applications across its mortgage range, with brokers directed to the lender’s latest documentation checklists for further details.
Jo Cave, head of mortgages at Marsden Building Society, said the changes reflected the lender’s commitment to providing “flexible lending solutions and straightforward processes” for intermediaries.
She added: “We’ve listened to broker feedback and taken steps to reduce unnecessary administration, making it easier to submit and place expat cases with us.
“Combined with our manual underwriting approach, these enhancements give brokers greater flexibility and more opportunities to meet the needs of their expat clients.”
