Budding homeowners, take note! Your Netflix and Spotify subscriptions can help you get a mortgage.
Yes you’ve read correctly. The money you weep as it leaves your account every month to meet yours love is blind Addiction can be more rewarding than you initially thought.
We were never taught in school about credit and a good financial track record – that would certainly have been more practical than the Pythagorean theorem.
Thankfully, the Leeds Building Society has connected to Experian’s free Experian Boost service and unveiled a plan if you’re hoping to climb the property ladder, allowing you to use your subscriptions – like Netflix or Spotify – as a way to actually help you buy your first home.
It seems paradoxical to spend money on services that are not severe – especially in times of the livelihood crisis – could help with the purchase of a home.
However, paying a regular monthly subscription could serve to prove, in part, that a would-be homeowner’s financial track record is reliable and that they are able to pay off a mortgage at a constant interest rate.
Leeds Building Society has announced it will now take into account factors like Netflix and Spotify subscriptions – as well as more tedious payments like council tax – during mortgage meetings to check if the applicant has 12 months of regular debit payments.
Leeds Building Society chief executive Richard Fearon explains that the plan will “particularly help younger borrowers, first-time buyers and those on lower incomes who face the greatest challenge of demonstrating their ability to repay” as well as people trapped in a rental cycle.
He tells the Independent: “Often through no fault of their own, these groups struggle to build good credit because they have to spend most of their income on rent and other regular payments.”
Although, just because you’re handing money over to Spotify, Netflix, Amazon and whatever every month doesn’t mean the deal is sealed.
In addition to looking at a mortgage applicant’s regular payments over the past 12 months, the building society also assesses the applicant’s overall financial health, looking at everything from their employment status to their income.
The Leeds Building Society plan comes shortly after Skipton Building Society recently announced it had launched a mortgage with no down payment required.
Open only to first-time buyers over the age of 21, the Track Record Mortgage has a maximum mortgage term of 35 years and a five-year fixed rate of 5.49 percent.
Skipton’s Charlotte Harrison said: “We recognize that there is a clear gap in the market for people with a history of making rent payments for an extended period of time to be able to demonstrate the affordability of a mortgage – but there isn’t a solution for them right now, one to buy property due to lack of savings or access to family wealth.
“It’s time to rethink these massive barriers to homeownership, and we’re proud to take the lead in bringing solutions to such a massive social problem to market.”
