16 Aug Update to NatWest Lending Policy for Self Employed

In an update to its lending policy, high street bank NatWest will be accepting self-employed individuals who have previously claimed grants through the governments’ self-employed income support scheme as a result of the pandemic.

From 17^th August 2021, NatWest has announced they will be accepting applications from those who claimed the grants created by the government to help throughout the Covid pandemic – as long as these grants have not been taken within the three months preceding their application.

As with standard policy, NatWest will still assess household income using the most recent years’ income or the average of the last two years’ earnings – whichever is the lowest.

In addition, brokers will no longer need to complete the “mandatory self-employed application submission sheet” and as such, applications will no longer have to be sent to the specialist self-employed triage team for an affordability check to be completed.

Using the last three months’ bank statements for the business, underwriters will be able to assess the affordability and ability of the business to sustain the level of income predicted, whilst also factoring in the impact and repayments of any Bounce Back Loans.