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Natwest changes SEISS grant criteria

Anna Sagar
Written By:
Anna Sagar
Posted:
Updated:
12/12/2023

Natwest has changed its criteria and will now accept self-employed borrowers who have historically taken out Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants.

The lender said that it would accept applications from self-employed borrowers who had received an SEISS grant as long as it was not in the last three months.

It said it would use an average of the last two years or the most recent year’s income, whichever was lower, and look at the last three months’ business bank statements to assess its ability to sustain a declared level of income.

Natwest previously said that it would not accept applications from customers who have applied for an SEISS grant on or after 14 July 2020 but said that it would unveil a new criteria change in August.

Lenders have faced criticism about the lack of options available to self-employed borrowers over the past year.

However, they have started to soften their criteria, with HSBC announcing earlier this week that it would no longer ask self-employed applicants to provide bank statements from the first three months of 2020.

Santander and Bluestone Mortgages have also announced that they would not look at accounts for the 2020/21 financial year.