Vida enhances mortgage criteria with increased affordability and new products

Vida has announced a number of changes aimed at helping more clients and improving the broker application experience.

The lender has enhanced its affordability model for residential applications to help more clients get onto the property ladder with the loan amount they need.

Vida has also refined the evidence requirements for customers using personal savings as part of their deposit, streamlining the process and tailoring the evidence required to the individual circumstances of the application.

There are also changes to buy-to-let criteria, with the maximum loan size for applications increased to £2m for loans up to 75% LTV, across all credit tiers. The new limit applies to all personal buy-to-lets, SPVs, MUBs and HMOs. The new maximum loan size for buy-to-let is inclusive of any fees added to the loan.

Finally, Vida has reintroduced buy-to-let limited edition five-year products, up to 80% LTV, with options at both 4% and 6% fees for individual units or HMOs/MUBs.

The announcement comes the day after the company confirmed it has received PRA and FCA authorisation to become a fully licenced bank.

Helen Cawthra, head of intermediary relationships at Vida, said: “We’re confident our new simplified approach will make a real difference in the amount we are prepared to lend, especially in regions such as London and the South East.

"If brokers have cases that they didn’t think we could help with before, we encourage them to try our updated residential affordability calculator on the Vida Homeloans website.”

Ross Williams, head of mortgage product management at Vida, added: “By increasing our maximum loan size on buy-to-let to £2m, we can support brokers' higher net worth clients looking to rent out their property.

"We’re also pleased to be able to reintroduce our buy-to-let limited editions to offer further options to landlord clients and to suit those who are seeking a lower monthly payment in lieu of a higher product fee.”