Suffolk Building Society has made three changes to its lending criteria, in a bid to provide greater flexibility when making mortgage lending decisions.
Applications for residential, expat residential, and regulated buy-to-let (BTL) products will now be accepted where the applicant is paid in: Saudi Riyal, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Swedish Krona and Danish Krone.
These five new currencies join the Euro, Swiss Franc, Norwegian Krone, US Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, UAE Dirham, Kuwaiti Dinar and Qatari Riyal, as acceptable in these lending areas.
There are no currency restrictions for buy-to-let or holiday let deals (standard and expat).
The society will also adapt how it views the child maintenance arrangements which parents agree on, outside of the court system.
Many lenders will only take child maintenance into consideration where a formal agreement is in place, such as a court order or CMS (Child Maintenance Service) arrangement.
Suffolk Building Society will now accept maintenance payments that parents arrange themselves (often called a family-based arrangement or FBA) that can be evidenced via 12 months of bank statements.
In addition, the society will permit lending on blocks with a maximum height of seven storeys, where it was previously five.
Charlotte Grimshaw, head of mortgages at Suffolk Building Society, said: “These criteria enhancements come off the back of a whole raft of new products we’ve already introduced this year.
“It’s terrific to be able to listen to our brokers and respond where we can, to make lending available to a wider range of clients.
“Adding these currencies, and in particular the Saudi Riyal and Australian Dollar, strengthens our expat proposition even further.”
