Nationwide Building Society will again allow bonus, overtime and commission income to be included as part of the mortgage affordability calculation from tomorrow, 22 April.

The lender temporarily suspended accepting these payments when calculating mortgage affordability during the pandemic,

The change comes as the society plans to launch Helping Hand on 26 April, which will allow first-time buyers to borrow up to 5.5 times their salary on lending up to 90% LTV – the most currently offered by any major high street lender.

Nationwide director of mortgages Henry Jordan says: “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.”