Northview Group has scrapped its New Street brand, merging it with Kensington Mortgages.
The move comes as Kensington Mortgages today announced changes to its buy-to-let range including an expansion of its lending criteria and the introduction of ‘top-slicing’ to allow personal income or income from other properties to be used in affordability assessments.
The group said the change followed extensive market feedback and is intended to create a "single, simplified principal lending brand that is easier for brokers to do business with".
Craig McKinlay, head of sales and marketing at Kensington Mortgages, said: "We always look for ways to enhance our business and brands, and ensure we provide our customers and brokers with an effective, competitive and simple proposition that makes sense to all whilst reflecting our level of ambition and growth.
"Recently, this has led us to focus on enhancing Kensington’s Buy to Let proposition, as well as further investment in Kensington’s sales team."
The proposition will be available to customers from 24 July 2018 with no new mortgage applications for New Street Mortgages accepted after this date, but existing customers will continue to be serviced under the same brand.
Northview Group said the retirement of its New Street name will lead to personnel changes, with all employees transferring to the Kensington Mortgages brand.
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said: "In the case of some mergers, certain products disappear in the transition but this doesn’t seem to be the case here. So, on that basis the movement should make things easier for brokers and seems to be a positive one."
