The society temporarily suspended accepting bonus, overtime and commission income – along with other criteria changes – at the height of the pandemic due to economic uncertainty

However, since July last year it has continued to relax its criteria and expand its lending. This included the return to return to 90% loan-to-value (LTV) lending and increasing the maximum term on higher LTV deals back to 40 years.

The change comes just as Nationwide unveils it Helping Hand initiative, due to launch on 26 April. It will allow first-time buyers to borrow up to 5.5 times their salary on lending up to 90% LTV.

Henry Jordan, director of mortgages at Nationwide said: “As a responsible lender it’s important we ensure that borrowers can afford their mortgage payments both now and in the future.

“At the height of the pandemic, with lots of economic uncertainty, particularly in the jobs market, we took the decision to suspend accepting bonus, overtime and commission payments.”

As we ease out of lockdown we are now in a position to relax our criteria further and support more borrowers in buying a new property.”