THE Furness Building Society is promoting a range of mortgages aimed at self-employed borrowers.

The Barrow-based mutual says that its underwriters are able to consider issues such as director remuneration and share of profits, which can help those who run their own businesses to secure a mortgage.

Usually the society will ask to see two years' accounts but will look at each case individually.

Sue Heron, marketing and sales director, said: “One of the benefits of [intermediaries] recommending Furness Building Society is that we do not use credit scoring to assess applications.

"Every case is looked at individually by an experienced underwriter.

“This means that if a set of accounts for a self-employed applicant raises questions, we try to answer these questions and won’t automatically turn down the application.

"By working in this way we are able to apply some flexibility in our decision making – and that certainly works for many of our self-employed customers.”

The society cites the example of a married couple who were joint shareholders in a business. Their most recent accounts showed a loss, leading other lenders to dismiss their application.

The couple's mortgage adviser approached the Furness and was able to secure a mortgage after staff reviewed two years of accounts and understood the loss had been caused by a single one-off cost that did not undermine the business' viability.

The society has also launched two variable rate products, aimed at all borrowers, specifically for loans between £300,000 and £500,000.

The two and three-year discounted products apply to loans up to a 70 per cent loan-to-value ratio. The variable discounted rate is currently 1.4 per cent for two years or 1.75 per cent for three years, after which the loan reverts to the standard variable rate. Neither product has an early repayment charge, making them ideal for borrowers that want the option to overpay.