Coronavirus Hub

What’s happening?

 

In line with FCA guidance customers financially impacted by Covid-19 have been able to apply for a mortgage, loan and credit card payment holiday and an overdraft £500 interest free buffer.

After 31st October 2020 customers will no longer be able to apply for these, although customers already benefitting from one will continue to do so for mortgages, loans, overdrafts and credit cards until it expires.

 

What do I need to know?

 

Up to the 31^st October:

·         A customer can still apply for an initial payment holiday (up to 3 months).

·         If a customer rolls off an initial payment holiday, they can still request a further payment holiday. They must apply before 31st October and can’t exceed the maximum 2 repayment holidays available.

·         If a customer has a live payment holiday that will roll off after the 31st October, no further payment holiday can be agreed.

 

After 31^st October:

·         Payment Holidays will no longer be available.

·         Customers rolling off an initial payment holiday of up to 3 months will not be able to apply for a further one.

·         Customers who contact us to advise they are in financial difficulty will be supported via Debt Management Operations teams, who can offer a range of options to support them.

·         We continue to support all customers impacted by Coronavirus and this does not vary by region or tier.

 

 

Please visit our direct website for more information on payment holidays.

 

Porting

If you have any customers looking to port their existing mortgage to a new property, please speak to your BDM in the first instance.

Your BDM will explain the porting process to you as well as providing an update on our current service levels.

Important information: For all new cases please check affordability through our calculators before running an agreement in principle or full mortgage applications.

 

Affordability calculators

What’s happening

 

Following the Government’s recent announcement to extend the furlough scheme to the end of March 2021 for the employed workforce impacted by the latest lockdown, we would like to update you on our current position.

 

What you need to know

 

Our current position is:

 

We will not accept Furlough income for mortgage application purposes for employed customers.

Employed customers will need to have returned to work following any period of Furlough and received their first full month’s payslip before mortgage applications can be submitted and underwritten.

 

For further details please check our:

 employed packaging guidelines

 

For all customers either Self Employed or Employed, we are reviewing our guidance for the current scheme and extension period. We will update you further if there are any changes to the current guidelines for mortgage applications.

 

Finally, as a reminder it is your responsibility to let us know if there is a change in the customer’s circumstances at any point during the mortgage process

 

Self Employed Customers

 

What you need to do

 

Criteria - examples of customers  

• Customers who have not and do not expect to experience a change in their self employed income.
• Customers who have and/or expect to have a reduction in their self employed income, including those eligible for the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS).  
• Customers that cannot provide evidence of their revised income or fail the affordability assessment, please explain we will not be able to assist them at this time and please  do not submit an application.  There are no exceptions to this policy. 

From 24/11/2020, the following income cannot be used to assess mortgage affordability:

 

Income derived from a business that has applied for or received a SEISS grant on or after 14 July 2020.

 

We will continue to consider other forms of income to support an application for self-employed customers whose business have been impacted, i.e. rental, employed income or other businesses where SEISS grants have not been applied for or received.

 

Limited companies are not impacted by this change.

 

Affordability

When completing the affordability calculator for a new application you must calculate income using the lower of:

• The average of the last two years net profit
• The most recent years profit

 

For Directors of a Limited Company (a shareholding of 20% or more) you must use the lower of:

• The average of the last two years salary and dividends
• The most recent years salary and dividends

Packaging

For all self-employed customers , the following evidence must be provided on submission of application.  If applications are received without full packaging this will delay processing and if do not receive with in 15 days we will lapse the case.

 

Important points to note:

 

·         To assist the underwriter in making a decision please explain the customers personal and business circumstances and how they will be able to meet their on going mortgage obligations in the current climate including all additional liabilities taken on during the lockdown period.

 

·         Where additional funds are being requested, ensure you capture the reason for further borrowing as we may ask for evidence of purpose of funds. 

 

·         You should be clear with your customer that their application may be declined at underwriting stage where we are not satisfied with the income calculated and/or that on-going affordability cannot be evidenced. This decision will be final and cannot be appealed.

 

·         Where your customer’s income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19, they are not eligible for the government Self Employment Income Support Scheme and their revised income fails affordability assessment, please explain we will not be able to assist them at this time and do not submit an application.

 

 

These changes also apply to applications that have already been submitted but have not yet completed:

• Where you inform us of a material change to the application
• Where the customer has contacted us to make us aware of a change to their self employed income

We do not expect you to proactively review your pipeline.

 

As a responsible lender, we have been able to make these changes whilst ensuring that we maintain our risk appetite and the quality of business we accept.

 

Mandatory self employed customers supplementary sheet

 

Packaging guide

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CUSTOMERS IN PAYMENT HOLIDAYS - CLICK HERE

 

Employed Customers

 

What’s happening

With the current restrictions and the UK Government extending the Job Retention Scheme until March 2021, we have reviewed and updated our employed policy to ensure we are doing the right thing for customers.

 

At this time our primary purpose remains to ensure that any mortgage we provide to customers is affordable.

 

 

What you need to know

We continue to support customers who have returned to work following furlough, providing they can demonstrate at least one full month’s evidence of their income e.g. payslips.  For customers who cannot provide this evidence, we are unable to accept an application at this time.

 

A return to work letter from the customer’s employer is no longer acceptable evidence.

 

These changes in policy are effective from 01/12/20 for all new employed applications. These changes do not impact employed applications submitted prior to 01/12/20

 

We will continue to review our policy in light of any appropriate changes which affect employed customers. 

 

For all customers not impacted by furlough, there are no changes to our current policies.

 

What you need to do

Review and follow the revised policy guidelines for:

 employed customers

 

Self-employed policy remains the same

 

Please remember to let us know if there is a change in the customer’s circumstances at any point during the mortgage process.

 

For more information, please view our:

FAQs

 

Government Extension of Furlough Scheme

What’s happening

Following the Government’s recent announcement to extend the furlough scheme to the end of March 2021 for the employed workforce impacted by the latest lockdown, we would like to update you on our current position.

 

What you need to know

 

Our current position is:-

 

We will not accept Furlough income for mortgage application purposes for employed customers.

Employed customers will need to have returned to work following any period of Furlough and received their first full month’s payslip before mortgage applications can be submitted and underwritten.

 

For all customers either Self Employed or Employed, we are reviewing our guidance for the current scheme and extension period. We will update you further if there are any changes to the current guidelines for mortgage applications.

 

Finally, as a reminder it is your responsibility to let us know if there is a change in the customer’s circumstances at any point during the mortgage process.

 

Guidance for furloughed customers

 

Mandatory self employed customers supplementary sheet

 

Packaging guide

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CUSTOMERS IN PAYMENT HOLIDAYS - CLICK HERE

 

Following updated guidelines we are pleased to confirm we have recommenced physical valuations.

 

This applies to:

·         Residential and Buy to Let applications

·         Properties in where the occupier allows access

·         Properties where the valuer confirms the property is safe to enter

 

This does not apply to:

·         Properties where the occupier does not allow access

·         Properties where the valuer confirms it is not safe to enter.

 

If the application relates to a property in Scotland, please note that our process for Transcript valuations remains unaffected and the Home Report must have been completed within the last 90 days if you are intending to rely on a Transcript.

 

Where we are not able to complete a property valuation in person, the customer’s application will be placed on hold.

We will continue to work closely with all of our valuers and will be working at pace to progress all applications, prioritising those which are currently on hold subject to a physical valuation

 

For Non New Build applications, Mortgage offers are valid for 6 months, and can be extended by a further month using the appropriate offer extension form.

One month offer extension form

 

For New Build applications, an extension can be requested on two further occasions for a maximum period of three months each. The first extension should be requested within thirty days of the initial 6 month offer period expiring.

If both extensions are granted, customers could have a total offer period of up to 12 months.

Offer Extensions will be subject to  confirmation of a successful credit search (no additional footprint will be made) and a refreshed property valuation that's free.

 

Equally as important, the original deal will still be valid or customers can choose a new deal. This means that if there is a delay in the completion of the property the customer won’t miss out on their chosen deal, which would be especially beneficial if rates rise.

 

Offers can be extended twice, any 3 month extension granted will apply from the date the offer expired

Offer extension applications should be submitted within thirty days of the initial offer period or within 30 days of the first offer extension expiring.

To apply for a new build offer extension, please use the below form:

New Build Offer Extension Form

What’s happening?

 

Confirmation of New Build Offer extension process which is effective immediately.

 

Offer extensions will now be available for a three-month period and should be applied for within 30 days of the expiry of the original offer.

 

A maximum of two offer extension can be applied for resulting in a total offer extension period of 6 months

 

What you need to know:

 

· Upon receipt of an offer extension request NatWest will confirm the valuation of the property has not changed

 

· The request will also be assessed and consider any change in the Customers circumstances that you have made us aware of. 

 

· To reflect ongoing market uncertainty, any offer extensions granted will be valid for a 3-month period.

 

· If the original valuer advises the value is likely to be significantly higher/lower, a standard valuation will be instructed, the cost of this valuation will be borne by the Bank.

 

· Offer extensions can be requested on a maximum of two occasions and will be subject to confirmation of value and completion of existing underwrite checks in increments of three months.

 

The three months offer extension request form can be found on the Forms and Guides  page

 

Please use the “EMAIL FORM” button at the bottom of the Request form to submit and attach any accompanying documents in support of the Request.