Shawbrook Bank has announced the return of some of its pre-pandemic criteria following the easing of lockdown.

The specialist bank was among several lenders which tightened criteria as a result of the coronavirus crisis, and in March revealed various changes to its buy-to-let, commercial investment, bridging Finance and Second Charge products.

One of the key changes is the return of the heavy refurbishment products under its bridging finance range. These products have now been reintroduced at a max loan-to-value (LTV) of 75%.

The bank has also resumed its full e-AIP service, with the e-AIP approvals no longer requiring manual confirmation, and removed additional assessments that were temporarily required for BTL and bridging loans over 65%.

On its second charge mortgage range, the lender announced that it has increased the maximum LTV back up to 85% (previously capped at 75%) and reduced the minimum loan amount to £5,000 for LTVs between 75.01% and 85%.

Emma Cox, sales director at Shawbrook, says although the impact of the pandemic was felt widely across the lending landscape, Shawbrook was able to ‘tighten its belt’, only making temporary adjustments to continue to support its brokers as much as possible.

“Whilst we are not in a position to return all of our criteria to pre-Covid levels, we are delighted with the steps we have taken to ensure we can support more of our customers and create a better journey for our broker partners,” she adds.

“Reintroducing our Heavy Refurb products, increasing our max LTV on our second charge range, and resuming our full e-AIP service are all such positive changes and I hope will be welcomed by our broker community.”