NatWest is updating its lending policy to accept self-employed borrowers who have claimed a grant through the government’s the self-employed income support scheme.

From tomorrow the lender will accept applicants who have taken one of the SEISS grants over the pandemic, so long as they have not done so within the three months preceding their application. 

NatWest will continue to assess income using the average of the last two years’ earnings or the most recent year’s income, whichever is lower.

Brokers will no longer be asked to complete the “mandatory self-employed application submission sheet”, and applications will no longer have to be sent to the self-employed triage team for an affordability check.

Underwriters will assess the ability of the business to sustain the declared level of income using the last three months’ business bank statements.

This will factor in the impact of any Bounce Back Loan repayments. 

Where an underwriter anticipates a lower level of income than stated on the application, they will contact the broker to explain the decision and provide a maximum loan size based on their findings.