28 Mar 2025
Santander becomes first lender to reduce mortgage affordability rates to enable customers to borrow more
From today (Friday 28 March) customers looking to purchase or remortgage a home can borrow more from Santander UK. It becomes the first major lender to reduce residential affordability rates in response to the FCA’s call earlier this month for lenders to design their affordability rates to best meet their customers’ needs, in a market where interest rates are declining.
All residential affordability rates have been reduced by up to 0.75%, bringing them to the lowest levels since 2022.
In real terms, this means that many customers applying for a residential mortgage from Santander UK can now borrow between £10,000-£35,000 more than yesterday, depending on their individual circumstances and subject to affordability checks and loan to income limits.
David Morris, Head of Homes, Santander UK said:
“Helping customers achieve their homeownership dream is a key priority for Santander, but we know that affordability constraints continue to bite. We’re thrilled to be the first major lender to respond to the updated FCA guidance, alongside introducing a range of reduced mortgage interest rates today, fulfilling our role as a responsible lender while helping more customers to borrow what they need to release their home aspirations.”
*Source Santander UK, the above examples are illustrations only and mortgage affordability is assessed on an individual basis.
On Wednesday, Santander UK announced a new range of mortgage products with rate reductions of up to 0.15% for home movers and up to 0.08% for first-time buyers. More details on the new range can be found here.
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Contact Information
Samantha Wrench
samantha.wrench@santander.co.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK, helping people and businesses prosper. From buying a home to budgeting, saving and investing for the future, or growing their business, the bank offers a broad range of personal and commercial financial products and services designed around customers' goals. Combining the convenience of digital banking with a human touch, Santander UK serves its customers via online and mobile banking, a nationwide branch network that includes seven Work Cafés, and a telephone service supported by tailored AI solutions to provide fast and effective support. As part of Banco Santander, one of the world's biggest banking groups, Santander UK customers benefit from a locally focused UK bank, backed by global scale, technology platforms and security. In April 2026, Santander UK completed its acquisition of TSB Banking Group, the single largest investment in the UK banking sector for over 15 years, creating the third largest UK bank based on personal current account balances and fourth largest for mortgages. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the FCA and the PRA in the UK. Santander UK plc customers’ eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS in the UK.
Banco Santander (SAN SM) is a leading commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The group’s activities are consolidated into five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking, Openbank, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments. This operating model allows the bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and local leadership. Santander aims to be the best open financial services platform providing services to individuals, SMEs, corporates, financial institutions and governments. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. As of the end of June 2026, Banco Santander had €1.5 trillion in total funds, more than 182 million customers, 6,500 branches and 185,000 employees.
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