General criteria
In this section we cover:
Acceptable deposit (sources)
| Source of deposit | Proofs required |
|---|---|
| Savings in the UK or EEA See also Help to Buy ISA |
For accounts within the UK, one full month's bank statement is required, showing the full cycle of transactions.
For accounts outside of the UK but within the EEA, one full month’s bank statement is required, showing the full cycle of transactions. |
| Savings outside of UK and EEA |
For accounts outside the UK and EEA, the most recent three months' bank statements are required, showing the full cycle of transactions. Non-EEA foreign nationals without indefinite leave to remain in the UK must provide a deposit of at least 25% from their own resources.
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Builders cashbacks/deposit
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Letter from solicitor |
Gifts
Read more about Genuine Bargain Price. |
Where the Donor is raising/has raised funds through a loan
|
| Help to Buy: ISA
Help to Buy: ISA is an acceptable source of deposit. To qualify your client must:
Read more about Help to Buy: ISA |
Help to Buy: ISA closing statement |
Forces Help to Buy (FHTB)
Download our FHTB application keying guide |
Purchases - the Personal Information Note (PIN) will be required to evidence deposit. Remortgages - the applicants payslip will evidence the total monthly FHTB outgoing. |
Inheritance
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A letter from the executor or solicitor for the estate, confirming the amount that is to be/has been inherited. If the funds have been received, a bank statement showing the monies going into your client's account is required. |
| Equity from sale of property | Sale price of the property |
| Funds from sale of overseas property |
Where an applicant has all or part of their deposit from the sale of an overseas property, it can be treated as the applicant's savings. Proof requirements are:
Where the funds have been paid into an overseas bank account then:
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| Funds from Redundancy |
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If you’re unsure about whether a source of deposit will be acceptable, contact us on Broker Chat to check
Unacceptable source of deposit
- Any loans taken out by your client (including bridging loans), except for:
- borrowing from another lender against an additional property owned by the applicant. This is subject to affordability and criteria
- the repayment of a Limited Company Directors Loan. The Limited Company accountants must confirm the monies are available. And there is no detriment to the company by removal of the funds. This deposit must also be keyed as savings.
- loan from a UK Trust Fund, provided no monthly repayment is made. And the only condition attached to the Trust Fund loan is that it is repayable on sale of the property. Any other form of loan from a Trust Fund is unacceptable.
- Non-UK Trust Funds
- Funding from overseas companies (including Crown Dependencies of Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark).
- Gifts from overseas companies (including Crown Dependencies of Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark) - for example where the donor is a director/shareholder/partner and the source of funds are derived from a non-UK business. This includes directors' loan, personal dividends etc.
- Gifts from acting Mortgage Broker or Brokerage
- Funding from credit cards
- Repayment of a loan to friends or family – we’ll only accept this if it was repaid over 3 months ago. In this case, please key as savings.
- Funds from children under the age of 18, whether a sole or joint account holder, or beneficiary of a trust. The only exception to this is where the ‘child’ is over 18 and is now the applicant, but hasn't transferred their funds to an adult account.
- Cryptoassets
Term
For interest only, the maximum term that Nationwide will lend up to is 25 years (or retirement if sooner).
Besides this the maximum term that Nationwide will lend up to is 40 years.
Maximum age
| Borrower type | Criteria |
|---|---|
| New borrowers |
See our Income Criteria page for further information on Lending into Retirement. |
| Existing Nationwide borrowers (under the age of 75) | Where the existing current mortgage term extends beyond the eldest applicant's 75th birthday, your client can take out a new mortgage over the term remaining on their current loan. This is subject to satisfying all other lending criteria - see below.
They may also apply to port their product over the remainder of their current mortgage term providing:
See our Income Criteria for further information on Lending into Retirement. |
| Existing Nationwide borrowers (already aged 75 and over) |
Your client may apply to port their product over the remainder of their current mortgage term. This is providing they:
|
| Retired borrowers | The maximum acceptable retirement age is 70. If the chosen mortgage takes your client into retirement, Nationwide will require details of how they intend to continue to meet repayments. |
You can contact one of our experienced advisers on Broker Chat for more information.
Foreign nationals
The following criteria applies, including source of deposit.
| Nationals | Criteria Applies |
|---|---|
| Republic of Ireland (ROI) Nationals |
|
Non-UK / Non-ROI Nationals |
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*Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) holders only:
With Home Office plans to digitalise immigration status information by the end of 2024, some BRPs will show an expiry date of 31 December 2024.
Where the applicant holds a BRP with an expiry date of 31 December 2024. And they also have proof they have been granted permission by the Home Office to stay in the UK beyond this date, this is acceptable. This is provided the Home Office correspondence confirms eligibility to remain in the UK for at least 12 months.
Please note: the above exception does not apply to:
- Biometric Residence Card (BRC) holders, or
- BRPs that confirms the holder has Indefinite Leave to Remain/Settled status.
Source of deposit
- Applicants must be able to fund a minimum of 25% deposit from their own resources for purchases or have 25% equity in the property for remortgages/ additional borrowing.
- For joint applications, the deposit from their own resources can come from either or both applicants. For example, on a joint application with one applicant being a UK/ROI national, and the other without indefinite leave to remain/ settled status (but with one of the above acceptable visas), the 25% deposit can come from either applicant.
Non indefinite leave to remain and points based visas are subject to additional criteria as detailed below.
| Transaction type | Criteria for applicants without indefinite leave to remain |
|---|---|
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Purchase (including Equity Share) |
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| Genuine Bargain Price |
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| Purchase Right To Buy |
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| Remortgage, Additional Borrowing – includes Right To Buy and Equity Share applications |
|
Proof Requirements
Where an applicant has settled or pre settled status and has not been issued a biometric residency card the ‘check someone’s immigration status’ document is acceptable. This can be obtained by the applicant from the Home Office website using a unique share code issued to them.
Where an applicant is from an EU or EEA country, or from Switzerland, they won't get a card showing pre-settled or settled status. The status is only online and is evidenced using the ‘Check someone’s immigration status’ document.
The proof should be the page which shows the ‘details of the check’ which contains the following information:
- Organisation or Company name
- Purpose of the check
- Date of the check
- Reference number
If you and the applicant are unable to provide this, please provide the share code.
Indefinite leave to remain, settled or pre-settled status are treated as having 'indefinite leave to remain'. Standard lending criteria will apply.
EUSS Certificate of Application
Where an applicant with Pre-Settled Status is in the process of applying for Settled Status, the EUSS ‘Check Someone’s Immigration Status’ page will return a ‘Certificate of Application’.
Where a returned Certificate of Application, you'll be able to proceed. This is subject to retaining the following:
- The Certificate of Application; and
- The issued Home Office Letter when Pre-Settled Status was originally granted
Please visit our proofs section to see our proof of name and residency requirements.
| Acceptable - Indefinite Leave to Remain |
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|---|---|
| Acceptable - Without Indefinite Leave to Remain |
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| Unacceptable |
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Income in a foreign currency
Income paid in a foreign currency isn’t acceptable for the following new lending applications:
- Purchases (including second property types)
- Remortgages
- Further advances
- Porting with additional borrowing
Where a client is looking to complete a combination of transactions, such as a term change and additional borrowing, then foreign currency income can’t be used.
Applications using foreign currency income without new lending
- For existing Nationwide customers moving home, where no new lending is required, foreign currency income can be considered. This includes clients porting without additional borrowing.
- For existing Nationwide customers looking to change their term or repayment type, foreign currency income can be considered.
- If there’s no affordability assessment required, such as switching rates at deal end, we won’t need to look at income and therefore foreign currency income won’t need to be considered.
Credit Scoring
All applicants are credit scored before a mortgage is offered. This is usually at Decision in Principle stage. Obtaining a Decision in Principle will record a soft footprint against the applicant's credit record(s). It is when the full application is submitted that a hard footprint is left.
If you're told the application is unaffordable, and you do choose to proceed, the decision will result in a decline. You should only use this if you intend on appealing the decision later on.
Acceptable credit score for your client:
- The credit reference must cover all addresses for all parties in the last 3 years. We can't accept applicants who can't provide an acceptable full 3 year UK address history.
- The applicant must not be an undischarged bankrupt.
- We'll consider applicants discharged for at least 3 years.
When completing a credit assessment on your client we may obtain information from up to 3 bureaus; Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. When you submit a full application, we're required to leave a footprint highlighting that we've performed a search connected with mortgage lending. This will leave a hard footprint at each agency we use. Multiple credit searches over a short period may affect your client's credit rating. You should explain this to your client before submitting their application.
Any joint applications which results in a decline must not then be scored individually to try for an accept decision. Even if either applicant in their own right has sufficient income to support the mortgage. We may only accept subsequent applications from either of the individuals if there is no longer any connection between the original applicants.
Inherited properties
We would expect to see an application for an inherited property as a remortgage transaction. However, it'll be down to the conveyancer to advise how to structure the transaction.
Please note: if an applicant is porting their current Nationwide mortgage product to an inherited property, you will need to key this as a purchase application. This is because product porting is not available on remortgage applications.
You don't need to key where there is an existing mortgage on the property which isn't connected to the applicant(s). Any mortgages that are in the applicant(s) names should be keyed to the case in the usual way.
Where you're structuring the transaction as a purchase, you should key the deposit relating to the inherited element as ‘Equity’.
If applicants are purchasing from a deceased persons' estate, and they're not beneficiaries, you should key as a purchase application.
The table below provides remortgage keying guidance for the most common scenarios:
| Scenario | Application type | Loan Purpose for repaying an existing mortgage on the property where the mortgage is not connected to the applicant/s | Loan Purpose for buying out a beneficiary | Any other additional borrowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applicant is the sole beneficiary of a mortgage free property | Remortgage |
N/A | N/A | In line with current policy |
| Applicant is the sole beneficiary of a mortgaged property | Other Personal Consumption | |||
| Applicant is not the sole beneficiary on a mortgage free property | N/A | Buy out partner's interest (non-borrower) | ||
| Applicant is not the sole beneficiary on a mortgaged property | Other Personal Consumption |
Unsecured debt
Clients intending to pay off unsecured debt, that has more than six months to run, may be asked to provide proof that the debt has been paid off in full. This is before we can proceed to offer.
Examples of acceptable proofs we may require include:
- A credit card statement showing that the balance has been cleared
- A document from a loan company confirming the loan has been paid off
Where you're clearing more than one unsecured debt, we’ll need proof of repayment for each sole debt. Screenshots are acceptable.
We may accept if the unsecured debt is being repaid with equity from the sale of the client’s main residence.
Contact one of our experienced advisers using Broker Chat if you need more information.
Offers (and how long they're valid for)
- Rate Switch offers are valid until the end of the day they're produced
- Additional borrowing (further advance) offers are valid for 90 days
- Remortgage and house purchase offers are valid for 180 days
In addition, there is a 15-day grace period from the date of the offer expiry in order to complete. This will be applied automatically so you don’t need to contact us.
Offer Extensions
New Build Offer Extensions
Where your client is purchasing a New Build property and the offer is due to expire, you can request an offer extension of 45 days. This is subject to eligibility and criteria. You'll need confirmation that your clients' circumstances haven’t materially changed. The 45 days is inclusive of the 15-day grace period applied to all offers.
Please see our New Build page for further information.
Non New Build Offer Extensions
Where your client is purchasing or remortgaging a property and the offer is due to expire, you may be able to request an offer extension of 45 days. This is subject to eligibility and criteria. You'll need confirmation that your clients' circumstances haven’t materially changed. The following is a list of acceptable reasons for an extension request:
- Nationwide, or a conveyancer acting under the Free Legal Fee Service, has made an error. Or caused the delay and completion is imminent.
- Where the funds have been released before but were returned as completion did not take place and the money is now required urgently.
- Delay caused by the death of someone in the chain e.g. vendor.
- Delay caused due to outstanding legal, title &/or property matters. This is subject to review by our Property team.
- Delay caused by delayed completion of a new build property in the chain.
- Delay caused by vendor’s sale falling through.
In order to request the extension for one of the above reasons, you will need to email mortgageofferextensions@nationwide.co.uk confirming the following information:
- Case Number
- Reason for Extension
- Whether they have exchanged contracts or missives concluded (Scotland)
- Have any material changes to income and/or outgoings been declared and detail the changes.
The 45 days extension is inclusive of the 15-day grace period applied to all offers.
Your client will receive an automated text message to confirm the offer is due to expire, even though it may have been extended. This is nothing to be concerned about and the email you receive confirming the offer extension supersedes this. You may want to make your client aware to ignore this text message where an extension has been applied for and granted. You should only contact us if the original offer is within 30 days of expiry.
Armed forces
We accept income from British Armed Forces personnel. We'll also accept applications from personnel purchasing a property to let straight away. As long as they intend to occupy the property within three years.
We'll accept additional borrowing (further advance) applications. However, where the property is already let this will only be for or essential or green improvements to the security address. Please see our how to submit a case page.
Where your client can't provide UK address history, you can key the Ministry of Defence BFPO postcode that corresponds to their barracks.
We support the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) scheme. You can find more information about FHTB on our housing schemes page.
Gurkhas
For Gurkhas who have completed four or more years service in the British Armed Forces, you can key as having indefinite leave to remain. You will need to provide Proof of length of service. For Gurkhas who don’t have indefinite leave to remain, you should key as Non-EEA foreign nationals. However, Tier 1 or 2 visa proof isn't required as they're serving in the British Armed Forces.
Ex-pats and applicants working abroad
All applicants must be resident in the UK for tax purposes when the mortgage has completed.
We'll consider applications where:
- your client's a UK national working abroad and their family (ie spouse and children) will remain in the UK as occupiers. It's expected that the spouse will be a joint borrower.
- if your clients can provide a full UK address history for the last 3 years. And they can satisfy our current ID policy, proof of residency requirements and underwriting criteria.
However, we won't accept where:
- the property is to be let or left unoccupied whilst your client works abroad.
- Income paid in a foreign currency.
- Self-employed income from outside the UK.
You'll also need to include additional outgoings abroad if your applicant works abroad.
County Court Judgements (CCJs)
We'll consider lending to applicants with current or previous CCJs depending on:
- the value
- the date registered.
The application may be subject to a more detailed underwrite.