Darlington Building Society has reduced rates across its residential foreign currency mortgage range by up to 30 bps.
Effective immediately, the changes apply across selected two-year and five-year fixed-rate products and follow the Society’s recent decision to increase maximum LTV on its foreign currency range to 90%, enhancing options for brokers working with more specialist cases.
Headline rate reductions across the range include:
- Two year fixed-rate foreign currency mortgage, 80% LTV – 5.39%, reduced by 20bps.
- Two year fixed-rate foreign currency mortgage, 90% LTV – 5.79%, reduced by 30bps.
- Five year fixed-rate foreign currency mortgage, 80% LTV – 5.39%, reduced by 20bps.
- Five year fixed-rate foreign currency mortgage, 90% LTV – 5.79%, reduced by 30bps.
Darlington’s foreign currency proposition is designed for borrowers whose income is paid in an overseas currency and can support a range of scenarios, including expats returning to the UK, foreign nationals purchasing property, and clients whose circumstances may sit outside more mainstream criteria. The Society accepts 16 major currencies and takes a manual underwriting approach to complex cases.
The changes apply to both purchase and remortgage business and are expected to support brokers working in a part of the market where affordability and product availability can often be more limited, particularly where income structures or client circumstances sit outside standard lending criteria.
Chris Blewitt, Head of Mortgage Distribution at Darlington Building Society, said:
“Foreign currency cases tend to be the sort of transactions where there is rarely a straightforward route from enquiry through to completion. Clients may have overseas income, multiple jurisdictions involved, or circumstances that sit outside standard systems and policy rules.
“What brokers often tell us is that these are not difficult clients, they are simply clients that need more thought around how a case is assessed. Pricing is important, but so does knowing there is someone willing to look beyond a standard checklist and understand the wider story behind an application.
“We have seen steady demand in this area and, while rates are only one part of the conversation, improving pricing gives brokers another option when they are trying to place cases that can sometimes have a limited number of homes.”
