Suffolk Building Society has announced it will accept multi-currency applications.

The society will accept any currency as an income type for BTL and holiday let cases, except high-risk cases.

For residential or regulated BTL applications, applicants must be paid in any of 16 major currencies.

Foreign currency incomes will be converted into Sterling and the society will apply a 20% haircut, to allow for changes in the exchange rate, before applying its standard affordability calculations.

The change will support customers with multiple sources of incomes, in different currencies.

An example of who the change is aimed at: A British expat is being paid in Australian Dollars, while her British husband has come back to the UK to work. Their joint application can now take into account both incomes.

Suffolk Building Society head of intermediary relations and mortgage sales Charlotte Grimshaw says: “We’re so pleased to offer this mix-and-match flexibility on currencies, as we know that many brokers have clients with this need.”

“We know that income is not just earned in the currency of an applicant’s current location: pensions, rental income, investments, and other income-generating assets could all come from sources outside of their current country of residence. With this update, we are ensuring our lending keeps pace with the different ways people are living and earning.”