Leeds Building Society - News Archive

10/08/2010 - 10 Digit Customer Number

Following the recent security changes you will be asked to input a 10 digit customer number when logging in. However your 7 digit customer number will still allow you to access the system so you should continue to use this number.

16/07/2010 - New Self Build Mortgage Product

Leeds Building Society have launched a new Self Build mortgage, please contact your Intermediary Account manager for full details. Find your nearest Intermediary account manager »

01/06/2010 - Intermediary Panel for Key Relationships

Please note that the Society has formed an Intermediary panel for Key Relationships, and only those on the panel will receive enhanced procuration fees as agreed in writing between the Relationship and the Society. For all other relationships, the Society will pay a standard procuration fee of 0.20%. For further information, please contact Phil Coombes, Head of Intermediary sales

29/04/2010 - Guidance re Self Employed Applicants

For self-employed applicants demonstrating a reduction or fluctuation in net profits over the last 3 years (i.e. anything other than an improving position) an explanation must be provided in the additional information section so that the application can be fully assessed by an underwriter.

22/02/2010 - Changes to the Lending Criteria

The Residential Lending Guide has been updated to provide further clarification in a number of areas. Read more »

Changes to the Lending Criteria

The UK Residential Lending Guide has been updated to provide further clarification in the following areas:

Overarching Statement - An overarching statement has been added to section 1 to confirm that the Policy covers areas of lending acceptable to the Society.
Employment Requirements - The Policy has been updated to state that applicants should have completed any probationary period and has been in full permanent continuous employment for a minimum of six months (including the probationary period).
Income Verification - The Policy has been updated to clarify that any rental income to be used should be the net income figure and evidenced by a minimum of twelve months.
Short Term Contracts - The Policy has been updated to reflect that temporary contracts are not acceptable where the applicant moves from company to company over short periods of time. An applicant would be acceptable, providing the company can confirm that the applicant is permanent and is not required to complete a further probationary period. MLD are required to verify the position.
Self Employed Status - Where applicant is related to the employer confirmation of income should be sought from an appropriately qualified accountant.
Holiday Lets - The Policy has been updated to clarify that property types with restrictions are not acceptable.

04/02/2010 - Changes to the Interest Only Lending Criteria

Some changes have been made to the interest only lending criteria, which is detailed in section 18 of the Residential Lending Guide. Read more »

Interest Only

Where an investment based vehicle is / will be in place, the type of vehicle (e.g. endowment, investment lump sum) and estimated value of the vehicle must be recorded on the application form.
The estimated value of the vehicle must equate to at least 100% of the loan amount. In the event of this not being the case, the loan, or shortfall element must be advanced on either a capital and interest basis, or the shortfall made up by means of increasing the deposit required.
The criteria applies to both primary and additional lending, in the instance of shared ownership/shared equity application the LTV should be calculated using the customers share, rather than the property value, in line with the existing approach to other criteria (income multiples).

Where an investment based repayment vehicle is / will be in place (for the full amount of the proposed loan) the maximum loan to value is derived from the product criteria. Applicants are made aware in the offer of advance and on their annual statements to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place to repay the loan amount at the end of the mortgage term and that investment vehicles are not assigned to the Society.

Higher Risk Repayment Strategies

The Society regards the following (non-involvement based) repayment strategies as higher risk, and a maximum loan to value of 75% applies in these cases:

Inheritance;
Sale of property

The change to criteria will take effect from Monday 1st February, pipeline cases will be accepted under the old criteria providing the full application is received ;by MLD on Friday 5th February. Details of the change are given in section 18 of the Residential Lending Guide.

18/11/2009 - Service Improvements

There have been recent improvements made in the Lending Department, which change the way your mortgage application will be dealt with. Mortgage cases will now be allocated to underwriters based on an alphabetical split. The teams are split A-D - E-K - L-R - Q-Z. Each team will deal with all aspects of your application from start to finish, which will increase our already high level of service.

If you wish to send documents to us, please either reply to a message from Secure Communications sent from the Lending Department or send us a fax on (0113) 225 7739.

If you are experiencing problems from Secure Communication please contact Intermediary Support on (01543) 415 266.

Alternatively, If you would like to speak to someone about your mortgage application, please contact us on (0113) 225 7889.

01/09/2009 - Procuration Fee

The Society no longer pays a procuration fee for cases that are ported where the loan is like for like. It does, however, pay a fee on any additional lending.

25/08/2009 - FT Adviser - Online Service awards - 5* Star winner

The Society was the proud recipient of a prestigious 5 star award - Mortgage Provider & Packager in the FT Adviser Online Service Awards 2009. The award is the result of nominations from IFA's who rate providers from 1* for poor service all the way up to 5* for those providing Excellent service. The award includes performance in areas such as website design / functionality, ease of processing, online tools and information, reliability, business support and personal contact.

13/08/2009 - Changes to Residential Lending Criteria - Further Advances

From the 14th August the following changes have been made to the Further Advance Lending Criteria

In all instances of a further advance application, income must now be verified, (the latest three months payslips for all those on the mortgage will be needed as verification of income or the financial accounts as outlined in section 5 of the Lending Guide for self-employed applicants). To ensure a smooth and speedy process, please remember it is vital to send a correctly packaged full application in all instances.
Self-certification, sub-prime and right to buy further advance applications are to be restricted to essential property repairs / improvements (copies of estimates are required).
Shared ownership further advances are to be restricted to the purchase of an additional share of the property and essential property repairs / improvements (copies of estimates are required).

22/07/2009 - Temporary Withdrawal of Self Build Variable Rate

With effect from the close of business on Wednesday, 22 July 2009, Leeds Building Society will temporarily no longer be accepting Self Build mortgage applications.

14/07/2009 - Changes to Shared Ownership Criteria

With immediate effect the maximum "Borrower Share" for Shared Ownership applications is 80%. Please click on the following link for details of the current range. Details of the current range »

23/06/2009 Changes to Spanish Lending Criteria

To reflect the changes in market conditions, the Management team have made the following changes to the Spanish Residential Lending Policy. The changes will take effect from 23 June 2009. Any previously agreed AIP's will be underwritten under the old criteria providing the fully packaged case is submitted to head office by Friday 26 June 2009. Read more »

Interest Only
The Society has withdrawn from the interest only market and only applications on a capital and repayment basis will be considered.

LTV
Introduction of maximum loan to value of 50% for flats/apartments,the maximum loan to value of 65% will be maintained for villa and terrace properties.

Property
Lending will be limited to flats/apartments where the building is no greater than 3 storeys high.

Maximum Age
The maximum age is 65 (at the end of the mortgage term), however, applications may be considered up to a maximum age of 75 (at the end of the mortgage term) where the applicant can demonstrate the ability to service the loan by continued employment or pension income.

Income Multiples
Single income multiple to be reduced from 5x to 3.25x;
Joint maximum income multiple to be reduced from 4.25x to 3x.

17/06/2009 Application Submission Requirements

Leeds Building Society has compiled a document to explain our requirements for the submission of correctly packaged applications. By sending the relevant documentation to us with your application, this will help to speed up the processing and ensure an offer is issued as soon as possible.
Details of our submission requirements (PDF) »

08/06/2009 Great News - Pay All Fees Online

We are pleased to advise that payment for fees due when submitting a mortgage application to Leeds Building Society can now be paid online at the time of mortgage submission. The online application form now includes pages which request details of the applicant(s) credit/debit card which will then be used to collect the correct payment for the valuation and product (booking) fees. Read more »

This will reduce the time taken to process the application – we will no longer need to wait for a telephone call to obtain the details – and means we can start processing the application immediately.

To ensure we comply with Data Protection rules, we will ensure that all information is removed immediately we have used it to obtain the fee.

Please note – if you enter the card details and then exit the application part way through, and then return to complete the form at a later time, the card details will have been automatically cleaned. This means they would need to be re-entered again prior to submission of the form.

03/06/2009 Clarification of Residential Mortgage Lending Policy

The Residential Mortgage Lending Policy has been clarified (sections 6 & 7) in respect of deriving the appropriate income multiples and level of income verification for shared ownership and shared equity applications.

03/04/2009 Payment of Application & Valuation Fees

A number of our mortgage products now require an application / booking fee to be paid up front, before we will assess the application. We also require the valuation fee to be paid in full, where appropriate, before a valuation can be instructed. Read more »

Our on-line application screens confirm that fee payments can be made either by cheque, or by calling us to confirm debit/credit card information. Unfortunately, we can't yet offer the option of automated on-line payments, although we are working hard to make this possible in the near future. For the moment, please do not choose the credit/debit card option or input any card details on-line.

To make payments by debit/credit card, please contact our Lending Service Desk on (0113) 225 7889. Alternatively, you can make fee payments by cheque. If you make a payment by cheque, please ensure that the client's name(s) and account number are quoted in the payee section.

If the mortgage product you have chosen requires an application / booking fee to be paid, this must be paid in full before we will assess the application. If this fee is not paid within 5 working days of submission, the application will be cancelled.

18/02/2009 - Changes to Irish Residential Lending Criteria

To reflect changes in market conditions the following changes have been made to the Irish Lending criteria and will take effect from Wednesday 18th February 2009

Re-mortgage lending
A maximum loan to value of 60% has been introduced for all re-mortgage business.

Interest Only
The Society has withdrawn from the interest only market, only applications on a capital and interest basis will be considered.

Maximum Age
The maximum age is 65 (at the end of the mortgage term), however, applications may be considered up to a maximum age of 70 (at the end of the mortgage term) where the applicant can demonstrate the ability to service the loan by continued employment of pension income

Location
The property must be situated in a main city / suburb in Ireland. Lending on ‘rural’ properties will be considered where the maximum loan to value is 50%. Guidance relating to rural properties is shown below:

Rural Guidance note - Any standalone property or village area 5 miles outside a main city / suburb with a population of circa 5000.

12/02/2009 - Changes to UK Residential Lending Policy

To reflect changes in market conditions the following changes have been made to the Irish Lending criteria and will take effect from Wednesday 18th February 2009

Re-mortgage lending
A maximum loan to value of 60% has been introduced for all re-mortgage business.

Interest Only
The Society has withdrawn from the interest only market, only applications on a capital and interest basis will be considered.

Maximum Age
The maximum age is 65 (at the end of the mortgage term), however, applications may be considered up to a maximum age of 70 (at the end of the mortgage term) where the applicant can demonstrate the ability to service the loan by continued employment of pension income

Location
The property must be situated in a main city / suburb in Ireland. Lending on ‘rural’ properties will be considered where the maximum loan to value is 50%. Guidance relating to rural properties is shown below:

Rural Guidance note - Any standalone property or village area 5 miles outside a main city / suburb with a population of circa 5000.

29/01/2009 - Valuation Fees

With immediate effect the full valuation fee in respect of all mortgage applications must be paid before the valuation will be instructed by the Society.

In order to speed up the processing of your application, please ensure that you submit a cheque with the application, the payee should show the name of the applicant and the reference number.

Alternatively the fee can be paid by debit or credit card over the telephone by ringing the Mortgage Lending Service Desk, on 0113 225 7889 once the application has been submitted.

23/01/2009 - Application Submission Requirements

Leeds Building Society has compiled a document to explain our requirements for the submission of correctly packaged applications. By sending the relevant documentation to us with your application, this will help to speed up the processing and ensure an offer is issued as soon as possible.
Details of our submission requirements (PDF) »

19/01/2009 - Secure e-mail of acknowledgement letters

Following on from the December implementation of secure e-mail of mortgage offers, Leeds Building Society will now e-mail your case acknowledgement letters and any 'to do lists' issued as applications progress. Read more »

Leeds Building Society has further improved its communication to deliver an even better service and make information about your client’s application more accessible to you. This enhancement allows for fully automated secure e-mail of the case acknowledgement letter AND your client’s ‘to do list’ (outstanding items required for offer) to you during normal working hours.

Please note that this facility will use the same contact details as our existing e-mail case tracking service and secure offers service and so if you already receive these updates, you will now receive the majority of communications from us by e-mail.

When you receive your first secure e-mail from us, follow the simple instructions to set your own password, which you must then use to open all subsequent secure e-mails from Leeds Building Society.

Following this change, please note that paper copies of documents will no longer be posted to you, unless either you have opted out of our e-mail services or we do not hold a valid e-mail address.

15/01/2009 - Clarification of Builder Deposits, Vendor Deposits and Family Purchases

When any deposit/incentive or cashback is being paid by the vendor this must be disclosed on the application form. Read more »

Builder Deposits

When any deposit/ incentive or cashback is being paid by the builder this must be disclosed on the application form. It is likely that the property will be valued net of this incentive and a deposit, appropriate to the product selected, must then be paid on the valuation amount (net of the incentive).

For new build property a second-hand valuation will be used to calculate the loan to value.

From the 20th October 2008, the maximum loan to value for new build properties is 80%. This excludes shared ownership applications that are subject to the shared ownership criteria.

Vendor Deposits

When any deposit/ incentive or cashback is being paid by the vendor this must be disclosed on the application form. It is likely that the property will be valued net of this incentive and a deposit, appropriate to the product selected, must then be paid on the valuation amount (net of the incentive).

Family Purchases

Gifted family purchases will be considered for vanilla lending (prime residential lending excluding buy to let properties) where the gift is being given by a family member defined as one of the following; spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild. The amount of the gifted deposit must be disclosed on the application form. The property valuation recorded in these instances is that of the valuer.

08/01/2009 - Capital Raising For Spanish Lending

Please note that with effect from 6th January 2008, applications that are for capital raising purposes will not be accepted.

17/12/2008 - Secure e-mail of mortgage offers

Leeds Building Society has further improved its communication to deliver an even better service and make your client's mortgage offers much more accessible to you. This enhancement allows for fully automated secure e-mail of mortgage offers to you during normal working hours. Read more »

This process should help remove delays in you receiving mortgage offers…especially during times of Christmas post delays!

Please note that this facility will use the same contact details as our existing e-mail case tracking service and so if you already receive these updates, you will also now receive offers automatically by e-mail.

When you receive a secure e-mail from us simply follow the simple instructions to set your own password, which you must then use to open all subsequent secure e-mails from Leeds Building Society.

Following this change, please note that paper copies of mortgage offers will no longer be posted to you, unless either you have opted out of the service or we do not hold a valid e-mail address for your company.

24/11/2008 - From 1 January 2009 only online applications accepted

In order to maintain a fast efficient service, from the 1st January 2009 we will only accept applications submitted online on our mainstream business. There are a few exceptions.
Read more »

As you know, at Leeds Building Society we are constantly looking at ways to improve our proposition for our intermediary relationships.

With this in mind and to ensure that we continue to provide you with the service we feel you deserve, we have decided that from 1st January 2009 we will only accept applications submitted online on our mainstream business.

Paper applications received after this date will not be accepted and will be returned.

There are some exceptions to this rule and these are:-

Guarantor cases
Ported cases
Multiple applicants (more than 2)

Taking this action will ensure that we continue to provide a fast, efficient service for your clients and will also allow you to take advantage of our online case tracking facility.

For further details about our products or criteria, please contact your local Development Manager.