Accord Mortgages has announced that from today it will no longer accept new lending applications from applicants on furlough.
Residential and buy-to-let applicants must be back at work before their income can be considered, in a move which the lender suggested aims to provide “greater clarity and improve service” to brokers and their clients.
For cases already submitted where the applicant is on furlough, Accord indicated that additional information must be evidenced by Friday 11 September in order to proceed. Brokers with a case in the pipeline will be contacted by an underwriter to discuss their next steps.
Accord director of intermediary distribution, Jeremy Duncombe, commented: “We appreciate that brokers find themselves in an ever-changing environment as lenders make regular updates in response to Covid-19.
“We are receiving a huge volume of enquiries around what the furlough scheme means for applications, which is impacting our capacity to write new business. To ensure we can manage service levels and continue to lend responsibly, we have made the difficult decision to simplify our lending policy which hopefully provides more transparency for brokers and improves turnaround times.”
Yorkshire Building Society has also updated its lending policy with applicants required to be back at work before their income can be considered.
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