Specialist lender also removes profession limits and expands eligibility criteria
Precise, part of specialist lender OSB Group, has raised its maximum loan-to-income (LTI) ratio to six times for qualifying residential mortgage applicants, with no restrictions based on profession.
The lender said the move is intended to broaden access to home loans, following recent government pledges to support first-time buyers.
Precise confirmed that its revised criteria apply to all borrower types, including those with recent adverse credit, self-employed applicants, joint borrowers, first-time buyers, and home movers. The lender’s residential products now offer income multiples up to six times at up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV), with rates starting from 4.77%.
Applications will be assessed based on Precise’s internal credit scoring and affordability checks, with no exclusions for specific professions.
The lender’s decision comes amid a wider trend in the market, as several other providers have also adjusted their lending criteria in response to recent changes from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The PRA’s updated rules are aimed at enabling more high LTI lending across the sector. It also follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Mansion House speech on July 15, which outlined plans to reduce financial barriers and help 36,000 first-time buyers purchase homes over the next year.
“Precise has consistently supported the specialist residential market and this latest increase to LTI multiples follows a number of positive changes that have been made this year,” said Adrian Moloney, intermediary sales director at OSB Group.
“These changes include increased affordability calculations (average of 9%), reduced stress rates to 1.25% as well as LTV now up to 95% which means we’re able to support even more customers with affordability challenges.
“To illustrate what this means in real terms, if a couple’s joint income was £80,000 at the start of the year, they had the potential to borrow up to £400,000 at 85% LTV (subject to eligibility) but from today, that same couple could access up to £480,000 at 95% LTV, giving them an uplift of over 20% with smaller deposit requirements.”
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