Co-operative Bank launches green additional borrowing products

Products are available with no fee, either a two or five-year fixed term, at 60-85% LTV with interest rates starting at 2.94%.

Eligible Co-operative Bank, Britannia and Platform mortgages holders can use the Bank’s new Energy Saving Improvement Tool, powered by Energy Saving Trust, to create a personalised plan and choose a green additional borrowing product.

In addition to the same application process of a standard additional borrowing product, borrowers need to use the online Energy Saving Improvement Tool to generate an improvement plan and use at least 50% of the loan on green home improvements.

The improvement plan provides a list of actions that could be taken to help reduce energy bills, reduce carbon emissions or improve the property’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating, based on the plan selected. It can then provide an estimated cost for making the changes with flexibility allowing plans to be tailored based on the customer’s budget, which can be downloaded or sent via email as a PDF.

Recent research for the Bank showed that 59% of people believe it is still important to invest in green energy solutions to tackle climate change even if the Green Levy adds to the cost of household energy bills.

The survey also found 61% of people agreed that addressing the climate crisis is one of the most important issues to tackle in the UK today.

John Ward at The Co-operative Bank said: “It is clear that climate change is a major worry for UK consumers and a concern we share with our customers. Tackling this important issue continues to be a priority for us and why we have launched our green additional borrowing products, supported by our new Energy Saving Improvement Tool. These two initiatives work together to help customers identify where they make investments to improve their home that will have the most benefit to the environment whilst also reducing their energy usage which in turn could mean lower bills at a time when costs are increasing, but also reducing this for the longer term.”