"We want to try and help borrowers under the age of 50 where mortgage terms may take them into retirement"
Vida has announced a series of enhancements to its products and criteria.
The lender has increased its maximum age at the end of mortgage term to 80 years old.
It will now consider lending up to an applicant’s 80th birthday based on their current income, where the applicant is under 50 years old, they are at least 10 years from retirement, and they are actively contributing to a pension scheme.
Additional applicants outside of this can be considered, but no income will be used for affordability and repayment needs to be on a capital and interest basis.
Vida has also extended the maximum potential mortgage term from 40 years to 45 years.
Alongside the latest criteria enhancements, Vida is repricing its entire product range and launching new limited edition products.
Buy-to-let initial rates are being cut by up to 0.70% with rates from 5.74% fixed for five years 6.84% for two years.
Residential products have seen cuts of up to 0.55% with five-yea fixes starting at 6.79% and two-year fixes from 7.14%.
In addition, new limited edition buy-to-let five-year fixed products have launched at 75% LTV. The products will have a 6% fee but with Vida's lowest initial rates for over a year, from 5.14%. These will be available for single units, HMOs and MUBs.
Helen Cawthra, head of intermediary relationships at Vida, commented: “We want to help as many people as possible move forward with realising their property ambitions at any stage in life.
"Affordability is becoming more and more challenging for many, and we want to try and help borrowers under the age of 50 where mortgage terms may take them into retirement, so these latest enhancements to our criteria and products will give intermediaries additional options to discuss with their clients.”
