West One relaunches second charge and BTL ranges with criteria changes

By Bridging Loan Directory 3rd August 2020

West One has relaunched its buy-to-let and second charges products, with new rates and criteria to support borrowers as the economy emerges from lockdown.

The specialist property finance lender continued to lend strongly through the lockdown period and is now revamping its product set, to meet the needs of borrowers in a fast-changing market environment.

The changes West One has announced are designed to provide its broker partners with greater opportunities, including limited-edition products to support that.

Buy-to-let

West One has also enhanced its overall buy-to-let range, with increases in LTVs, loan sizes and a significant rate reduction.

The buy-to-let range is now also available to landlords who have previously taken a payment holiday as long as normal payments have resumed and at least two payments have now been made.

Key features are:

Increase from 70%LTV to 75% LTV
Maximum loan size increased from £750,000 to £1 million
All rates have been reduced by up to 65 basis points and now start at 3.59% for standard products residential and 3.79% on specialist products

West One’s standard and specialist buy-to-let products are available to first-time and experienced landlords, where the applicant owns their own residential property.

Its specialist range of buy-to-let mortgages is available for expats, holiday lets and Airbnb, houses in multiple occupation (HMO) and Multi-Unit Blocks (MUB).

It can be accessed by both individual and limited-company borrowers.

Second charges

West One has reintroduced its popular second-charge residential prime plan, Apex 0, with rates starting from 3.99%.

In addition, West One has increased loan sizes on their buy-to-let second charge range, with loan sizes now available up to £125,000 and LTVs up to 70%, while continuing to offer market-leading rates.

Further enhancements to their criteria mean that self-employed borrowers will benefit from streamlined criteria and processes, including reductions to the minimum trading period from three years down to two.

Borrowers who have recently exited payment holidays or returned to work from furlough can now be considered on a number of plans up to 65% LTV.

West One runs a ‘no credit scoring’ approach with specialist underwriting on all applications available up to a term of 30 years.

Andrew Ferguson, managing director at West One Buy-to-Let, says:

“Our refreshed range of products and criteria will support our broker partners and demonstrates our commitment to this market.

We continued to perform strongly during lockdown and are confident our broad range of specialist buy-to-let products, along with repricing across our entire range, provides a compelling and competitive reason to use West One.

We have further ambitious plans lined up for later this month which will further enhance our offering and we will confirm further details shortly.”

Marie Grundy, pictured, sales director for West One, adds:

“These major enhancements to both our second charge residential and buy-to-let product ranges represent our most significant set of changes since the onset of lockdown.

They also underline our commitment to the second-charge market at a time when products are in shorter supply.

The return of our prime plan, Apex 0, and increased options for landlords and self-employed borrowers, combined with the introduction of products for borrowers exiting payment holidays, mean an even broader range of borrowing needs can be met through our comprehensive second charge product offering.”