NatWest to allow additional borrowing for green home improvements

NatWest has partnered with green fintech platform, Add To My Mortgage, to enable homeowners to fund green home improvements via their existing mortgage.

Related topics:  Mortgages
Rozi Jones
3rd July 2020
eco green housing plants house
"Together with the mortgage industry and manufacturers and installers of green home energy products, our goal is to mobilise the money needed to make green home improvements a reality."

The secured £1.1m in funding from the Green Home Finance Innovation Fund to build a platform that allows those purchasing green home energy systems, such as heat pumps, to more easily obtain finance via their mortgage.

The digital platform will connect green vendors to mortgage lenders. The customers of mortgage lenders that sign up to the platform will be able to use it to search for energy efficiency measures that they would like to install in their homes. When the customer goes to pay for the chosen energy efficiency measure, the platform will automatically recalculate their mortgage to take into account the extra finance required to pay for it.

Add To My Mortgage says the lack of traditional finance offerings are a barrier to the uptake of heat pumps.

Heat pumps differ from traditional boilers in that they use electricity to generate heat using a technique called reverse refrigeration. They are more expensive than gas boilers (approximately £8,000-£10,000, compared to a new boiler which costs approximately £2,500) but are more eco-friendly and durable, lasting for 15 to 20 years and can save 0.8 tons of CO2 per capita per year.

Lloyd Cochrane, customer hoal lead for home buying and ownership at NatWest, said: “We think this is an important move that the industry should support, and it’s why we’re proud to be working with the team at Add To My Mortgage to develop practical yet innovative ways that people can achieve their own green ambitions and save money on their household bills.

“We’re committed to supporting people, families and communities in fulfilling their potential – helping them to go green in their choices around housing is an important part of that.”

Rory Duff, CEO of Add To My Mortgage, commented: “We’re delighted to be working with NatWest and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to deliver the Add To My Mortgage platform. Together with the mortgage industry and manufacturers and installers of green home energy products, our goal is to mobilise the money needed to make green home improvements a reality. We believe this can provide a substantial boost to the green economy as we recover from the impact of Covid-19.”

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