Lender relaunches FTB deal but at a price

Tuesday 7th August 2012

Saffron Building Society has relaunched a 95% LTV mortgage for first-time buyers who have been successfully renting for at least 12 months.

The lender will look at their rental history along with other criteria.

The mortgage has a rate of 6.49% fixed until February 29, 2016, and comes with a £195 arrangement fee. It is available direct and via intermediaries for borrowers in East Anglia.

No guarantor is required for the mortgage and Saffron does not require the applicant to hold accounts or products with it.

Jon Hall, CEO of Saffron Building Society, said: “At a time when rents are at an all-time high and mortgages are difficult to secure, we want to make it as easy as possible for first-time buyers.

“We know that there are many potential first-time borrowers who are capable of supporting a mortgage as they have been paying these amounts in rent already, but are ‘frozen out’ of the market by the large deposits required.

“We steer clear of the ‘computer says no’ approach adopted by too many lenders, by for example looking at affordability using rental history, not just income multiples.

“Our manual underwriting looks at each case individually to assess the affordability of the mortgage for the applicant, making it highly suitable for first-time buyers.”

Saffron last week reported a 97% rise in gross lending for the first six months of this year.

While its 95% FTB deal does allow borrowers to purchase secondhand property, the rate looks high compared with 95% LTV NewBuy deals such as Santander’s three-year fix at 4.99%, available exclusively via Abbey for Intermediaries.