Pepper Money has made a range of enhancements to its lending criteria to help customers maximise their affordability when they apply for a mortgage. The specialist lender has increased the amount of variable income that it will consider as part of an affordability calculation and can now include 100% of monthly bonus or commission and 100% of overtime payments. On both, it had previously considered 50% towards affordability. In addition, Pepper Money can now consider 50% annual or quarterly bonus or commission and 50% rental income towards a customer’s affordability calculation. Alongside these improvements, Pepper Money is also introducing the new option of a 40-year term to help customers spread their payments over a longer period, enhancing their affordability and increase their disposable income.

Market Financial Solutions (MFS) has launched a pilot of a new range of semi-commercial and commercial term buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages. The new products, which will initially be available to a set group of brokers, will all borrowers to benefit from commercial term BTL finance at bridging speed, with loans delivered in as little as a week. The products will be available between £150,000 and £1.5m per unit, and up to £10m per ultimate beneficial owner. Both mortgage products will offers loans up to 70% LTV and an interest coverage ratio of 130% for all customers. MFS will lend to a range of borrowers and business types, including owner occupiers in their own premises, retail and offices. The pilot will last until the end of the year and will evolve following feedback, with the intention of launching fully in 2024.

Smartr365 has announced a range of new features and enhancements designed to improve the experience of brokers sourcing protection packages for clients. The lending end-to-end mortgage platform has introduced these developments to support the broader, sharpened focus on customer outcomes across financial services in the UK, following the introduction of the Consumer Duty regulations. As of today, advisers can utilise the Smartr365 platform to capture client demands and needs, add multiple benefits per case and choose a streamlined protection focused fact find view. Users will also be able to move between documenting client needs and sourcing protection quotes. The platform has also enhanced its integration with Solution Builder, allowing for the syncing multiple protection products and quotes.

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