Claire Askham, head of mortgage sales at Buckinghamshire Building Society, discusses the Society’s crafted lending approach and why flexible, thoughtful solutions are helping more borrowers into homeownership.
What does ‘crafted lending’ mean at Buckinghamshire Building Society?
For us, it’s really about looking at the individual story behind each case. We don’t expect borrowers to fit into a neat box, and more often than not, they don’t. Crafted lending is about asking the right questions and listening to the answers. What’s the full picture here, and how can we help?
It’s not a marketing slogan, it’s how we work. The way we lend reflects real life, whether that’s someone who’s rebuilding their credit, buying their first home with family help, or needing to stretch their deposit a little further. We just want to be practical and helpful wherever we can.
What kinds of cases does the crafted range cover?
We’ve grouped it into four areas to help brokers get a clearer steer: first-time buyers, non-standard income, restoring or reviving credit, and specialist solutions like Deposit Lite or Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor (JBSP).
These are lending areas that often need more of a human approach. The applicants may have slightly unusual circumstances, and they’re not typically straightforward, easy cases. They don’t sit in the investment space like buy to let, where criteria tend to be more fixed. These are the clients who benefit from a common-sense view.
Take Credit Restore and Credit Revive, for example. These are designed to support clients with a history of credit challenges. We recently upped the loan-to-value (LTV) on Credit Restore from 70% to 75%, which gives borrowers a bit more room to move forward.
Then there are skilled workers on Tier 2 visas. That product came directly from broker feedback. We had a real spike in enquiries, so we created something to meet that demand.
What about high LTV lending, is that part of the crafted approach now too?
Yes, and with good reason. Our 95% LTV mortgage used to sit in the Everyday Residential range, but we moved it into crafted recently. Why? Because we were increasingly seeing scenarios where it needed the same kind of thought and flexibility.
It’s not just for first-time buyers either. People relocating, using equity to pay down debts, or facing affordability pressures can all need 95% LTV lending. These aren’t high risk cases, they’re just people trying to make a smart move in a tougher market.
Where do brokers come into this?
They’re absolutely central. Brokers know their clients better than anyone, and we lean on that knowledge. Crafted lending doesn’t follow a checklist approach, it’s about conversations. We want brokers to come to us with the whole story, and we’ll look at how we can help.
We’ve done a lot to make our criteria clearer, so brokers can tell straight away where we might be a good fit. That saves everyone time, and it gives brokers that bit more certainty when placing cases that fall outside the usual parameters.
Is the crafted range still evolving?
Always,it has to. We keep an eye on what’s happening in the market, what brokers are telling us, and where the pinch points are. Sometimes that means tweaking a product or adjusting criteria. Other times, it’s about how we talk about the product.
A good example is Deposit Lite. It’s not a new product, but we’ve started positioning it more clearly as a 100% LTV solution, a factor which is especially helpful on new builds. It allows a charge on a family member’s property instead of a cash deposit, which opens up a lot of options for buyers with limited upfront funds.
Any final thoughts?
We know the mortgage market isn’t the most straightforward for a rising number of borrowers right now. However, we also know that being a bit more flexible and thoughtful can make a world of difference and crafted lending is our way of doing that.
All our cases are manually reviewed, but crafted lending often takes a little more time. Sometimes an out of the box solution needs to be found to help move things forward.
It’s about helping more people get the home they need, even when their circumstances aren’t textbook. And if that means asking a few extra questions or taking a different view on a case, then that’s fine by us.
