Head of Content
Mortgage Advisor & Director
Furness Building Society
About Furness Building Society
Furness Building Society is a mutual building society that was founded in 1865. The firm was established to “empower people” in the North West and Cumbria and serve as an asset to its community. Today, they mainly specialise in mortgages and savings accounts.
Unlike most high street banks, Furness has no shareholders to pay dividends to, which means they are better placed than some lenders to offer flexible mortgage products. You can compare the latest rates they offer with other lenders from across the market below:
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What type of mortgages do they offer?
Furness Building Society have a wide range of mortgage products available, divided into the following categories:
- Homemover mortgages
- First-time buyer mortgages
- Remortgages
- Self-employed mortgages
- Short-term mortgages
- Buy-to-let mortgages
- Holiday-let mortgages
- Later-life mortgages
This lender’s product range is dominated by 2 and 5-year fixed-rate mortgages and 2-year discount mortgages. They also offer exclusive deals for existing customers as well as specialist products such as self-build mortgages and green mortgages.
A choice of capital repayment or interest-only is offered on some products.
Eligibility criteria
Criteria may vary depending on the type of mortgage you are applying for, but for general residential borrowers, Furness Building Society has the following eligibility requirements:
- Deposit needed: Furness has a handful of options available for borrowers with 5% deposit (95% LTV) but product choice increases at 10% deposit plus.
- Credit history: Bad credit mortgages are available for borrowers with most minor to moderate types of adverse, but serious issues like bankruptcies and individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) need to have been satisfied for eight years.
- Age: The maximum age applicants can be is 79-80 at the end of the term.
- Employment: Self-employed applicants and contractors need to have been trading this way for at least two years, while full-time employees only need to have been in their current job for one month.
- Property type: Furness won’t offer a mortgage on certain types of non-standard construction - such as concrete and cornish construction - and also won’t lend on ex-local authority properties. The LTV is capped at 75% on new build flats.
The above criteria was sourced from Criteria Brain and the lender’s website.
Get in touch with us if you fall outside of this criteria - our team of brokers can explore whether there is room to negotiate with Furness or find you an alternative lender.
Compare Furness Building Society mortgage rates
The mortgage rates available from Furness Building Society are competitive with other mutuals and lower than some high street and specialist lenders.
Examples of the latest rates available at the time of writing (October 2024) are as follows:
- 5 Year Fixed Rate: 4.69%
- Rate Reducer product range: 3.29% at 80% LTV with a £999 fee, 3.77% at 90% LTV with a £999 fee, and 4.67% at 95% LTV with no fee
- Standard variable rate: 7.50%
How much will they let you borrow?
Furness Building Society will let you borrow up to 4.5 times your annual salary on a residential mortgage and uses the same income multiple for joint applications.
You can get an idea of how much you can borrow based on their income multiple, and compare it to the higher multiples used by other lenders, by entering your household income into the calculator below:
Buy-to-let landlords need to have personal income of at least £20,000 to get approved for a mortgage and can borrow up to 80% of the purchase price, subject to providing a satisfactory rental income projection on top of this.
What kind of reviews does Furness Building Society have?
Furness Building Society has an above-average rating of 3.4/5 on review aggregator service TrustPilot, based on feedback from 13 customers. They have an overall score of 3.7/5 on Smart Money People, based on reviews from seven of their customers.
Pros and cons
The table below highlights to pros and cons of Furness Building Society as a mortgage lender to help you decide whether they are the right choice for you:
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Positive reviews from existing customers |
Uses a lower income multiple than some lenders for affordability |
More flexibility and product choice than many high street lenders |
Limited options for newly self-employed people |
Specialist products such as self-build mortgages available |
Those with severe bad credit will need to look elsewhere |
Options for borrowers with low deposits |
Some restrictions on certain property types, including home with non-standard construction |
Speak to our brokers about Furness Building Society mortgages
You can compare mortgage rates from Furness with their competitors for free on Teito, but if you’re unsure whether they are the right lender for you, our brokers can help. They know the lender’s product range well and can advise you on how well they fit your requirements.
Here are a few of the reasons why you should speak to use before you go direct to a lender:
- You can compare rates and deals from across the market for free
- Our mortgage brokers can access exclusive deals
- We are 5-star rated on leading review websites
- You can secure an agreement in principle in minutes
Ready to compare Furness Building Society mortgage rates for free and speak to a broker about their range of products? Get started here.
How Teito Works
You have two options when you get started with Teito: you can select the option to speak with an advisor straight away or source a mortgage yourself. If you want to choose your own mortgage deal, follow the steps below:
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FAQs
Furness offers self-build mortgages up to 80% LTV and has a flexible criteria for them, although they won’t offer them to applicants who already own the land. Their required build completion time is up to 12 months and maximum of 10 staged payments are permitted.