Scottish Widows enhances mortgage range

Scottish Widows Bank has made changes to its mortgage range, adding a new 2-year fixed-rate no fee mortgage as well as a 2-year fixed rate offset mortgage.

Buy-to-let investors will get reduced rental cover, from 120% to 100%, and the maximum loan size has increased from £300,000 to £400,000.

The biggest changes affect graduate mortgages. In some circumstances, university graduates aged up to 40 will be able to borrow up to five times their salary if they are earn over £25,000.
Join applicants will also benefit from a multiple of 4x join salary or 5x graduate salary and 1x a join applicants salary.

The rise in large lending multiples on mortgages shows the problems that affect many buyers. Lots are having trouble finding affordable housing as property prices are so high that many graduates are struggling to borrow enough money.

Scottish Widows hope that their new mortgages are will be especially popular with first time buyers and will prove competitive against bigger lenders such as Barclays, Northern Rock, Mortgage Express and
Richard Clark, head of product development and marketing at Scottish Widows Bank, said about their new products: "Scottish Widows Bank consistently reviews its range of mortgage products. These recent developments highlight our commitment to offer flexible products that provide relevant solutions in a rapidly evolving market."