Nationwide has lowered the minimum income requirement for its Helping Hand scheme to £35,000 for sole applicants, while the requirement for joint applications remains at £55,000.
Helping Hand allows borrowing up to six-times income on 5-year or 10-year fixed rates up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV), offering a 33% increase over standard lending limits.
First-time buyers (FTBs) using Helping Hand receive £500 cashback upon completion, with an additional £500 available for purchasing an energy-efficient property through Nationwide’s Green Reward.
Henry Jordan, director of home at Nationwide, said: “We continue to do all we can to put first-time buyers first and aim to set our Helping Hand minimum income requirements at levels that give it the widest appeal.
“Helping Hand has proven extremely popular with prospective homeowners, especially since we extended it to six times income, and we continue to provide as much support as possible, whilst remaining within the high loan-to-income lending regulations.
“While we are pleased to be able to reduce the minimum income requirement for sole applicants again, we want to do more and that’s why we continue to call for a review of the 15 per cent limit.”
