Higher LTV criteria and top tips

• Forces Help to Buy is available up to 95% LTV. Accepted where this is the only source of deposit.
• Shared Ownership is available up to 90% LTV. All above criteria applies.
• Right to Buy is available up to 95% LTV. All above criteria applies.

Please be aware that we won't accept appeals for cases which have declined on credit score.

1. Submit a Decision in Principle – Once you’ve submitted a Decision in Principle, if the decision is 'Refer', at this stage you should STOP and wait for a Subjective Accept. If you continue to a full mortgage application before receiving a Subjective Accept, the valuation won’t be instructed until the case has been fully assessed and is deemed acceptable by our underwriters. This will mean your case will be delayed.

• With many estate agents asking potential buyers to have a DIP in place before viewing homes, be sure to check our SLAs to see how quickly you’ll receive a ‘subjective accept’ decision. Remember, it’s easy to get a DIP in NFI Online. If you need a reminder, our Keying Guide can help.

2. If the case is a ‘Refer’, you’ll receive a ‘Subjective Accept’ decision via an email within our expected SLA’s. At this point the DIP won’t have been reviewed but we'll confirm the requirements needed on the case for you to submit to FMA

3. Proceed to FMA and attach the required proofs to the case

4. Valuation instructed and application sent for documents to be processed within our expected SLAs

5. Application passed to an underwriter for full review.

We need to underwrite some cases in more detail. To prevent delays for your clients, please see our key information for DIP refer cases.

For all applications over 90% LTV, we’ll need to see:

• Proof of income (e.g. payslips)
• 3 months salary fed bank statements

We may ask for additional information following underwriter review.

As a responsible lender, we're applying enhanced criteria for all cases exceeding 90% LTV.

Here’s what to look out for before submitting an application which may prevent it from being accepted:

• Bank statements – we are looking to see that there are signs of affordability and good conduct
• Have you got a full 3 months and do they show the salary entry for each week/month?
• Have all the commitments showing on the bank statement been declared in the application? (e.g. personal loans and credit cards)
• Are there any additional expenses which haven’t been declared in the application – such as travel or childcare costs?
• Is the general conduct of the bank account good? Examples to look out for are – returned items (bounced payments) / reliance on overdraft / signs of financial distress
• High credit utilisation – this may indicate that the applicants will not have the ability to maintain payments in the future.