Virgin Money - Our underwriters love tricky cases

06 August 2025

It’s a complex market out there, and people’s circumstances don’t always tick the boxes in a standard mortgage application.

That’s why our BDMs have a hotline to our underwriters, so they can work their magic, and move fast. This means we can often find a way to say yes to a case that’s a bit more complicated.

Saying yes

Over the past year, we’ve said yes to over 50% of the quirky case enquiries we received.

Here are some recent Clydesdale Bank ones:

Fees made feasible

An existing mortgage customer needed to borrow more to complete an extension. They had two children in private school, and provided proof they could cover the remaining two years of school fees with personal savings. That meant we could ringfence the school fees. With further proof of things like additional cash available, excellent credit scores, and minimal debt, soon came a yes from us.

Assets unlocked

One applicant’s main source of income was an index-linked inheritance from her late husband. Her mortgage term was shorter than the insurance payments’ remaining term. This still left a big gap in how much income she needed. However, she also had a significant investment pot and was able to draw income from it. This enabled us to say yes.

These were from Virgin Money:

A career break

The customer was an IT consultant with many years of contracting experience, who had an 8-month work break during a divorce. Given the sector they were in, their skills, strong track record, and low LTV – and because they'd been back at work for a number of months – we said yes to their application.

Filling a gap

Two clients were newly qualified dentists, who were six months into an initial one-year fixed NHS foundation contract. They had a high credit score, low unsecured commitments, and spare monthly income of £1,000. Plus they were in a profession that’s in demand, and with good future earnings. So we were able to say yes at 90% LTV.

Got a quirky case?

We’d love to say yes to it. To set the ball rolling, call your Business Development Manager to discuss it – and they’ll soon be on the line to our underwriters.

The team at Virgin Money