LiveMore expands acceptance criteria with shorter arrears policy

LiveMore has expanded its acceptance criteria as part of a series of changes designed to improve access for underserved borrowers.

The specialist lender says that following its latest update, borrowers with historic arrears who have since demonstrated stable financial behaviour are no longer locked out for extended periods.

LiveMore is shortening how long it looks back at arrears, reducing the initial period of assessment for CCJs and credit defaults from three years to 18 months. Its assessment period for IVAs has also been reduced from three years to just 18 months.

LiveMore recently lowered its minimum borrowing age to 40 and also announced the launch of its LiveMore Underwriting Hero Hotline, designed to give brokers direct, one-to-one access to an underwriter to get help with complex and hard-to-place cases before a full application is submitted.

CEO of LiveMore Mortgages, Leon Diamond, commented: “Our purpose at LiveMore is to find solutions for people with more complex needs, and to say yes where others say no. By changing our lending criteria, we are assessing borrowers on their more recent financial behaviour, rather than leaving them stuck where they were previously in a time of crisis.

“We are reducing the number of automatic declines and increasing the extent of our manual underwriting, which means we can look at the individual and their personal circumstances, rather than just their credit history and provide the most appropriate products for their situation.”