Loughborough Building Society has enhanced its criteria for newly qualified professionals and those with benefits income.

The Society said the criteria changes were implemented following feedback from intermediaries. It is to help address ongoing affordability issues.

The lender will now accept newly qualified professional applicants who were previously in education/vocational training and have not completed six months in the role or have a contract of employment to start in the next three months.

This applies across all product types, up to 95% loan-to-value.

It has categorised these newly qualified professionals as a medical doctor, medical consultant/surgeon, anaesthetist, optometrist, solicitor, barrister, dentist, veterinarian, pilot, and accountant.

The Society has also announced that it will now accept between 50% and 100% of benefits income received, providing this income does not exceed more than half of the applicants total income and this can be evidenced through a confirmation letter and bank statements.

Each case will be assessed on an individual basis and this change is applicable across its entire product range.

National BDM at The Loughborough Ashley Pearson said: “Affordability, accessibility and availability are all ongoing issues for a number of borrowers in what remains a challenging period for the economy and the UK housing market. Therefore, it’s up to lenders to help break down some of these barriers of entry, where possible, in a responsible manner.

“These criteria changes, which have been incorporated directly on the back of feedback from our intermediary partners, will help open more doors to credit-worthy borrowers from different professional backgrounds and with different income sources. And we are hopeful that they will prove popular among the target demographic.”