Halifax Intermediary News

In addition to purchase and remortgage applications, EPC ratings will also be used in affordability for further advance (FA) applications and product transfers (PT), where a full affordability assessment is required.

The Application Summary document produced upon submission of an application will now include a section recording the EPC details submitted on the application.

For New Build properties we will accept a ‘predicted’ EPC rating keyed (based on a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA) or Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating).

Following analysis of our customers’ energy costs, we as a responsible lender, have improved our affordability calculations by adjusting the energy cost inputs within our affordability model, based on the energy efficiency of our customers’ properties.

There are no other changes to policy or our affordability rules and existing loan to income (LTI) caps will still apply.

There are no changes to when we will request proof of the EPC rating and this is only required when EPC information has manually been keyed and a Green Home product has been selected.

These changes apply to applications started from Tuesday 10 December and will not apply to any application started before this date. If a Decision in Principle (DIP) was keyed before 10 December and the application is converted to a full application on, or after, this date these changes will not apply.

‘Find out more on Green Living with Halifax Intermediaries’

All customers will be sent an email when their application is offered advising them of the reward with a link to the Green Living website where they can find out more information and log onto their Green Living journey.

We encourage customers to log onto their digital Green Living journey straight away and agree to receive reminder emails ahead of their reward’s 12 month expiry date. This will ensure that if they do wish to carry out eligible home improvements, they don’t miss out on the potential cashback available. 

Different improvements will have a different cashback value. It is important that customers are aware of the reward and the potential cashbacks available for works they may already be planning to make, or that they may now consider as a result of the cashback available.

The free EPC assessment will be conducted by e.surv (or by a subcontractor e.surv instructs) and will require an assessor to visit the customer’s property to carry out the assessment. The customer will see a link on their Green Living digital journey which takes them to the e.surv booking page. The customer will receive the EPC document within two weeks of their assessment. Customers who have made a successful Green Living Reward claim recently but are still within the 3 month window after their claim are also eligible for the free EPC assessment.

To support you we have a Green Living hub with lot of information, including on the Green Living Reward. 

Please note that for all applications fully submitted from Sunday 6 October 2024 the latest Tax Calculations and Tax Year Overviews must be for tax year 2023 / 2024.

This is to ensure that the most recent Tax Calculations (SA302s) and corresponding Tax Year Overviews are no more than 18 months old.

There’s no change to self-employed income verification and you should continue to follow the existing process.

We advised we will now use foster carer income in our affordability calculations to support customers working in this sector with homeownership.

We’re clarifying what can be accepted for income verification.

This income should be entered as self-employed income with two years figures entered and income will be verified to tax calculations/tax year overviews as standard for self-employed OR we will accept a letter from a foster care agency with two years’ figures as proof of income.

Foster children should be keyed as dependants.

Following your feedback we’ve improved our further advance application process to better enable you to support existing Halifax mortgage customers looking for additional borrowing.

The new and improved process is now available via Halifax Intermediaries Online.

• Instant decisioning with a Decision in Principle that has a ‘soft footprint’ credit search.
• Create and review illustrations instantly.
• Save and resume keying.
• Ability to amend the loan amount and other details before you submit the application in full.
   

We are reducing our future dating window for product transfers (PTs) from 6 months to 4 months.

The current market conditions mean it is appropriate to reduce the window while still allowing customers the flexibility to select a new deal well in advance of their current one ending.

Customers with products ending from 28 February 2025 will now be able to apply for a PT from 1 November 2024, 4 months before the end of their current product.

Customers with products ending on 31 January 2025, who have been able to apply for a PT from 1 August 2024, are not affected by these changes and can still apply ahead of the 4 months.

Customers choosing to future date are not bound to the new rate and can change their mind right up until their new rate comes into effect.

As well as future dating, customers within the last 3 months of their product can choose to start their new rate from the start of the following month with no Early Repayment Charges (ERC).

We are pleased to announce we have made £2 billion pounds available for  first time buyers (FTBs) who need to borrow at least 4.5x their annual household income through our new proposition First Time Buyer Boost.

• New loan to income (LTI) limit of 5.5x to boost maximum loan value
• Up to 22% additional lending.

Applicable from Thursday 29 August 2024.

There is no scheme to select for First Time Buyer Boost, the increased LTI will automatically be applied in our affordability calculation.

On a joint application only one applicant needs to be a FTB - please key them as applicant one to ensure they qualify for First Time Buyer Boost LTI.

As a result of your feedback, from 12 August we’ll be introducing 5 non-sterling Income into acceptable income types:

• US Dollar
• Euro
• Australian Dollar
• Indian Rupee
• Swiss Franc.
  

For purchase and remortgage applications:

• basic salary
• bonus
• overtime
• commission.

We’ll convert the income amount to GBP and apply a haircut of 20% (10% for bonus income) to cover any potential currency fluctuations.

From 12 August we are improving our affordability decision at DIP and full application, by using the actual rental payment rather than an assumed value in our affordability calculations for shared ownership.

This change will improve and simplify the processing of shared ownership applications and give you more certainty of the loan amount available at the point of application, enabling us to further support this important sector of the housing market.

Our new Green Living Reward means customers who are making certain energy-efficiency improvements to their property like insulation, windows, solar panels or a heat pump can claim a cashback amount of up to £2,000.

Terms, conditions and exclusions apply.

The cashback available can help alleviate the high upfront costs of improvements that can reduce household energy bills. The reward supports our mission to reward customers for making certain energy-efficient home improvements.

We’ve added a new page with valuable information for all remortgage customers.

• Conveyancing support
• Checklist for you
• Checklist for your customer.

We are always looking at ways to improve the customer experience and early customer contact with the conveyancer and the positioning of requirements can increase the speed to completion of their remortgage.

You can find more information on how to identify and support customers who may have specific needs as a result of a vulnerability in our Vulnerability Guidance for brokers (PDF, 281KB) support pack.

The FCA also have guidance available for firms on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers (PDF ,647KB).