Accord Mortgages has announced it is revising its loan-to-income (LTI) caps to a standard 4.49 times across all incomes from Wednesday 21 October.

The intermediary lender suggested the move is in order to maintain service levels and retain the broadest range of products possible.

Currently, Accord stated that affordability is already calculated at a maximum of 4.49 times for incomes less than £60,000, but for incomes of £60,000 and above, the cap is five times the income.

The lender said the temporary changes will only impact new business and new applications for additional loans, and that pipeline cases will not be affected, even if there is a material change to the application.

Accord director of intermediary distribution, Jeremy Duncombe, said: “Our priority is ensuring we can continue to offer a high level of support to brokers within the current environment. By making this adjustment to LTIs, we can manage volume and increase capacity to support brokers with a wider range of products.

“Whilst a difficult decision to make, by honouring all our pipeline cases we hope the impact to brokers and customers will be limited. We will continue to review the situation and reinstate the higher cap as soon as possible.”

Yorkshire Building Society is also standardising its lending policy to an LTI cap of 4.49 times for all incomes.

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