Foundation Home Loans has launched a range of owner-occupier mortgages for key workers which allow them to borrow up to 5.5 times their income.
Part of Foundation’s F1 tier range, the products offer enhanced loan-to-income (LTI) limits for first-time buyers, movers and remortgagers in certain professions.
The key worker product range has options at 75% and 85% loan-to-value (LTV), with maximum loan sizes of £1m up to 75% LTV and £750,000 up to 85% LTV.
Key workers are generally defined as those working in the public sector, and Foundation has split these jobs into various sectors.
These include Armed Forces personnel (Army/Navy/RAF), NHS clinicians (NHS nurses, paramedics, ambulance staff and midwives) and firefighters.
Teachers (public sector and University lecturers) and police and prison officers working within the UK Policy Force and HM Prison Service are also eligible.
The key worker products are available to borrowers across England, Scotland and Wales.
The lender is offering two-year fixed rates starting at 7.69% up to 75% LTV and 8.09% up to 85% LTV, and five-year fixed rates at 7.04% up to 75% LTV and 7.39% up to 85% LTV.
All of the key worker products are priced with lower fees of £595 to reduce upfront costs.
They also come with one free standard valuation for purchases and remortgages, and no application fee.
The key worker products are available on a capital and interest basis only.
Foundation Home Loans director of product and marketing Tom Jacob says: “Key workers are the life blood of the public sector, and it is vitally important they can access mortgages specifically for their needs to ensure they can live close to their places of work so they can support their local communities and continue to provide the very best services to members of the public.
“Borrowers in these professions tend to have very stable employment levels, however – and particularly in a higher interest-rate environment – potential borrowing based on income can be a difficult obstacle to get over, particularly if they have additional complexities which mean they just fall outside of mainstream lending criteria.”
