Beverley Building Society has refreshed its criteria for self-employed borrowers in what it is calling a “bounce back” mortgage initiative.

The lender will now consider applicants with one year’s accounts for mortgages up to 75 per cent loan-to-value.

Borrowers with a more established business can apply for a deal where the first year is interest-only in order to allow their cashflow recover from the Covid crisis.

The lender will consider up to 80 per cent LTV for businesses with a track record.

Beverley says it will base lending decisions on longer-term trading history record, industry factors, professional qualifications, experience and future prospects.

It says that all trades and professions will be considered and those whose business has been temporarily impacted by the pandemic are welcome to apply.

The building society says that self-employed borrowers accounted for 50 per cent of its lending last year.

Head of lending Graham Carter says: “As a smaller society, our approach is based on being able to take the time to really listen to people’s whole stories and make common-sense decisions on even the most complex cases, in order to do our best to help.

“Mortgages for self-employed people are among a range of niches we specialise in, alongside self-build, later-life and family-assist packages and lending on unusual properties.

“Essentially, we’re always keen to think outside the box, and do our utmost to help, and seeing the impact this crisis has had on this vital segment of the UK economy, we just felt like we needed to step in, and came up with this new offering to do exactly that.”