"Affordability can be a barrier to better mortgage rates, even when applicants are able to demonstrate a clean payment history."
The Society will now apply a stress rate of 1% above its standard mortgage rate of 4.24%, down from a previous stress rate of 3% above SMR.
Borrowers can add a product fee to the mortgage but can't add early repayment charges.
The Society has also updated its calculator for brokers to check how much a client could borrow before they apply.
Henry Jordan, director of mortgages at Nationwide, said: “Affordability can be a barrier to better mortgage rates, even when applicants are able to demonstrate a clean payment history.
"This change improves access to our competitively priced remortgage products for such borrowers, whilst maintaining a prudent, responsible approach to affordability assessment.”
