Gatehouse Bank makes criteria changes to buy-to-let products

Gatehouse Bank has widened the eligibility criteria on its range of buy-to-let products, including an increase to the maximum age at the end of the term, from 85 to 99 years for UK residents.

The 99-year age limit will not apply to customers who rely on non-rental income to meet affordability criteria. Where there is a reliance on personal income, the maximum age remains 85.

The change to the upper age limit is designed to remove financing challenges for older clients, who would otherwise have no problem passing affordability tests.

Gatehouse will also now allow refinancing within six months of purchase for all buy-to-let customers, subject to an enhanced due diligence process.

Buy-to-let products for expats and international residents have also been amended, with the maximum finance-to-value increasing from 75% to 80%, to bring it in line with products for UK residents.

The minimum finance amount has also been reduced to £60,000, down from £75,000, and the minimum property value reduced from £100,000 to £75,000 for Expats and International Residents.

The Bank will now require three months of bank statements from expats, rather than 12 months, while international residents will only need to provide six months’ worth of statements, rather than 12 months – conditions apply.

The maximum age increase and reduction of statements also apply to Houses in Multiple Occupations (HMOs) and Multi Unit Freehold Blocks (MUFBs).

The Bank has also made some changes to its home purchase plan criteria, and refinancing is now allowed within six months of purchase, subject to further due diligence checks. Home purchase plans are Shariah-compliant alternatives to conventional mortgages which carry no early payment charges.

The Bank last changed its eligibility criteria in October 2019. Its manual underwriting process, ensures all applications are judged on a case-by-case basis, taking the applicant’s full circumstances into account.

Charles Haresnape, CEO of Gatehouse Bank, said:

“We are always looking at ways to improve our buy-to-let and home purchase plan ranges to ensure we make the application process as easy as possible for our brokers and customers.

“We are able to make the latest changes to our criteria because of our human approach to underwriting, which means we take our customers’ full financial circumstances into account.”

Hope Capital launches the Hope FleXi product

Bridging lender Hope Capital today launches a flexible new bridging loan which is tailored to suit the affordability of the client.

Called the Hope FleXi, it introduces a new level of flexibility to the market. The key with this new product is that a borrower can not only service the loan whilst having some of the interest retained, but also spread repayments on the serviced part over the entire term of the loan. This means that the monthly interest payments are significantly reduced for the borrower, potentially by over 90%.

Another special feature of the Hope FleXi is that it allows any combination of the number of months that can be serviced or retained, providing the ultimate flexibility for the borrower in ensuring the payments are affordable. By shaping the loan through the selection of the number of months to be retained and the number to be serviced, the borrower is empowered to achieve the balance between cashflow, affordability, optimal loan amount and loan-to-value.

Additionally, by structuring the loan in this way the borrower can ensure that the monthly payments can reflect the repayments of any future remortgage they have planned to support their exit strategy, or to ensure that any rental income from the property can cover the repayment or interest cover ratio. Additionally, this may help provide a satisfactory credit profile for future refinancing.

The Hope FleXi for residential properties has been designed to help borrowers to achieve their ambitions, to optimise income-generating property, cashflow and capital requirements. This means that the level of payments and the amount required on day one is effectively tailored to each individual borrower’s circumstances.

For example, loan terms can be from three to 12 months, so if the borrower has selected a 12-month term, they could choose to retain six months’ interest, and make six months’ payments spread over the whole 12 months. Alternatively, they could opt to retain five months’ interest and make seven months’ worth of payments, again spread over the whole 12 months – ultimately any combination can be selected, to benefit the borrower, creating the ultimate in flexible borrowing.

Jonathan Sealey, chief executive officer of Hope Capital, commented, “The introduction of our Hope FleXi bridging loan is all about offering the flexibility to meet the needs of the borrower.

“We understand that individual circumstances – the borrower’s own financial position and the nature of the property they are investing in – will vary greatly from case to case.

“At Hope Capital, we make it our job to take all these different situations into account and do our utmost to lend in any scenario where the loan achieves the borrower’s aspirations, is affordable and enables a viable exit strategy.”

“As with all our bridging loans, our team provides service excellence at every stage from initial enquiry through to completion.”

Cynergy Bank to launch & Daughters Fund for female family entrepreneurs

Most parents swear they treat their children equally, but that doesn’t seem to apply to succession planning in family businesses.

According to a new analysis by specialist lender Cynergy Bank, for every family firm that refers to its daughters in the company name there are 37 which acknowledge their sons.

The huge imbalance between ‘& Sons’ and ‘& Daughters’ may be historic but research shows that traditional attitudes are still common.

Even in these more enlightened times twice as many family business owners plan to pass their firms on to sons rather than daughters according to Cynergy Bank’s survey of 543 family business owners.

More than a third of business owners believe it is ‘only natural’ that family firms are handed over to sons and other male relatives, with only 24% disagreeing strongly.

Remarkably more than one in four female family business owners agreed that it was natural for businesses to be passed on to male relatives.

Older business owners and those in traditionally male-dominated sectors like construction are more likely to say they favour male relatives in succession planning while younger business owners are more egalitarian.

Nick Fahy, chief executive of Cynergy Bank, said: “Historically family businesses have overlooked female leadership talent and handed their businesses down to sons and nephews. Unfortunately, this is still the case today.”

Cynergy Bank, a specialist lender with a focus on scaleup businesses and family firms, is launching a campaign called & Daughters. “We’re raising awareness of the issue, but we also want to be part of the solution,” said Fahy. “That’s why we are launching a £75m fund today specifically for female-led family firms.”

The Cynergy Bank & Daughters Fund is designed to help female-led family firms make the investment they need to grow.

Amalia Brightley-Gillott, managing director of Family Business Place, a consultancy which supports leaders of family firms, said: “For many women, the window for taking over the reins of the family firm often coincides with the time when they want to start a family.

“Unfortunately, this can lead to them being overlooked. Instead of accommodating this within the succession plan, a brother or a male cousin is often primed for the role instead.

“More recently there has been a shift in the way we work and run businesses. Flexible hours, working on the go, working from home have all led to women being able to achieve their goals in business whilst also managing a family.

“The best business leaders know that, in order for the business to continue and succeed, everyone should have an equal opportunity based on merit, not gender. I would urge all family business leaders who are thinking about succession planning to focus on the best person for the job.”

Ethos Asset Finance launches ‘The Electric Broker’

A leading finance company has plugged into the rising demand for environmentally friendly vehicles and assets by starting a specialist electric division.

The Electric Broker has been launched by Ethos Asset Finance – one of the best-known names in securing funding for those operating in the chauffeur and private hire industries – that will work solely in the green vehicle funding market.

The move comes soon after the government announced it was seeking to ban the manufacture of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035.

In January, the Ethos team staged an electric and hybrid vehicle showcase event for businesses in the North of England, which was attended by more than 200 interested parties. Guests were given an opportunity to test drive a range of green vehicles from manufacturers including Tesla, Audi, Kia, Mercedes, Jaguar and BMW.

Chris Brown, a former banker who set up Ethos Asset Finance in 2007, said: “In the last four months, Ethos has staged two events showcasing electric and hybrid cars and vans, which were both incredibly well attended.

“On the back of the success of these events, and an ongoing rise in calls from clients across the country looking at purchasing electric vehicles, we have launched this specialist division.

“The Electric Broker is essentially ‘powered’ by Ethos Asset Finance, which has more than two decades of experience in the vehicle finance sector. It is also recognised as one of the most respected and trusted names in the asset finance industry.

“Last October alone electric or hybrid car sales accounted for ten per cent of UK car sales – a rise of four per cent on the previous year. And this figure will continue to grow.”

Chris added: “With the government backing the switch to green vehicles, now is the perfect time for businesses to look seriously at changing their vehicles to a greener solution, and we are the experts who can help facilitate this.

“We are thrilled by the launch of The Electric Broker, which marks a new and exciting chapter in our history.

“Whilst Ethos Asset Finance operates in a host of different arenas, we felt the time was right to launch a specialist division to concentrate solely on the financing of electric vehicles for customers who are interested in going green.”

The Electric Broker can also help fund green charging point solutions. Further information about The Electric Broker is available from its website www.electricbroker.co.uk

NatWest reaffirms support for UK businesses

NatWest has today reaffirmed its commitment to supporting UK SMEs by removing the minimum monthly fee from its business account and launching its free ‘Business Builder’ digital coaching programme for start-ups and entrepreneurs.

NatWest is now the first high street bank in the UK to offer a business banking account without a monthly fee, and a truly ‘pay for what you use’ tariff. The monthly account fee removal will also apply to existing business account customers, meaning over 280,000 UK businesses will be better off as a result of the change. NatWest will write to all affected businesses from 9 March to inform them of this improvement to the offering.

The bank also offers 18 months of completely free banking to all new start-ups, meaning companies in this initial phase of growth won’t be charged for making transactions either, providing additional support for businesses at a critical stage. These changes mark the first stage in a series of planned improvements that the bank will make to its SME proposition this year as it aims to become the biggest supporter of start-ups in the UK.

NatWest has also today relaunched its digital initiative for start-ups and entrepreneurs as Business Builder. Previously called ‘Pre-Accelerator’, the programme is free-of-charge, and provides a series of online learning modules, augmented with regular newsletters, networking events and access to a digital network of like-minded individuals.

Andrew Harrison, MD, Business Banking said: ‘As part of our revised strategy, NatWest has committed to helping create 50,000 new businesses across the UK by 2023, and to support over half a million people to consider entrepreneurship as a career. Today we’ve launched the first in a series of improvements to transform how we support businesses of any size, by removing the monthly account fee and relaunching our digital coaching initiative.

Business Builder will provide budding entrepreneurs with the skills they need to get started with confidence, and combined with the account changes we’ve announced today, we’re proud to be able to provide a completely free platform on which the entrepreneurs of the future can build their own success stories.’