CHL Mortgages has announced that it has added its criteria to the Knowledge Bank platform.

The intermediary-only lender has also made several changes to its specialist buy-to-let (BTL) criteria.

CHL will now accept inter-company loan deposits from connected parties, while its high or additional rate taxpayer Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR) has been reduced from 145% to 140%. The lender has also confirmed increases to its development exposure limits.

As well as the criteria changes, CHL said its move to go live on Knowledge Bank “represents the next step” in its phased return to the specialist BTL market, as the lender looks to extend its reach across the intermediary marketplace.

Knowledge Bank holds the full criteria of over 200 lenders and has in excess of 120,000 individual pieces of criteria, making it the largest database of its kind in the UK.

CHL commercial director, Ross Turrell, said that the response to the lender’s return to the specialist BTL market has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

“We know the change to accept inter-company loan deposits will make a lot more limited company cases viable and these changes demonstrate our willingness to adapt according to customer and broker needs,” Turrell commented.

“Our launch with Knowledge Bank represents a logical step in our plan to engage with the intermediary community in a sensible, structured and comprehensive manner. Knowledge Bank has firmly cemented its status as the place for intermediaries to source all relevant criteria-related information and this will prove to be a valuable outlet in our overall distribution strategy.”

Knowledge Bank operations director, Matthew Corker, added: “It’s been great to see CHL return to the specialist BTL arena in recent months and expand its distribution to reach a wider number of brokers. 

“Whilst working closely with the CHL team over these last few weeks, it’s clear to see the level of knowledge and experience they have, covering some of the more specialist market niches such as HMO/MUFB and products for portfolio landlords. I have no doubt they will be well searched on our platform and a valuable addition to our users.”

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