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This is the latest announcement from Buckinghamshire BS.
Announcement
The Rise of the ‘Nearly Prime’ Borrower
Author: Claire Askham, Head of Mortgage Sales, Buckinghamshire Building Society
Date: March 2026
The Rise of the ‘Nearly Prime’ Borrower
In recent years, the mortgage market has become far more nuanced than the traditional split between “prime” and “adverse” borrowers. Increasingly, brokers are encountering clients who don’t sit comfortably in either camp – borrowers with generally sound financial habits, stable incomes and sensible borrowing needs, but with one or two credit marks that place them just outside mainstream criteria.
These are the ‘nearly prime’ borrowers… and their numbers are growing.
Insights from the FCA’s Financial Lives Survey paint a clear picture of why this shift is happening. The survey consistently highlights how many UK adults have experienced periods of financial vulnerability, often driven by life events rather than long-term financial mismanagement. Rising living costs, higher household bills and short-term income shocks have all contributed to a growing proportion of consumers missing payments at some point, even when they are otherwise financially capable.
Crucially, the FCA’s data also shows that financial resilience can recover. Many individuals who experience temporary difficulty go on to stabilise their finances, manage credit commitments effectively and rebuild confidence – but the markers of that earlier stress can remain on their credit files long after the situation has improved.
From a broker’s perspective, this creates a familiar challenge. Clients who “look good on paper” today may still fall foul of automated credit scoring because of historic issues that no longer reflect their true risk profile. A missed utility payment during a house move, a short period of arrears during redundancy or a legacy unsecured default can be enough to close the door with high street lenders, even where recent conduct has been clean and consistent.
Industry data supports the idea that this group is becoming more significant. The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) has consistently highlighted the important role specialist and near-prime lending plays in supporting borrowers who fall outside rigid mainstream criteria. Far from being a niche corner of the market, specialist lending increasingly acts as a bridge – helping borrowers access homeownership while they continue to rebuild their credit position.
This is not about relaxing standards or ignoring risk. Instead, it reflects a more sophisticated understanding of risk. Context matters. Patterns matter. Improvement matters.
Nearly prime borrowers often demonstrate exactly the behaviours lenders want to see: stable employment, controlled borrowing, affordability headroom and a clear explanation for historic issues. What they lack is a perfectly clean credit file and in today’s environment, that is becoming more common than exceptional.
For brokers, this shift reinforces the value of education and expectation-setting. Helping clients understand that the “best” mortgage isn’t always the cheapest rate, and that a shorter-term specialist solution can be part of a longer-term plan, is increasingly important. So too is packaging cases clearly, providing context and having early conversations with lenders who are prepared to look beyond automated decisioning.
Lenders also have a role to play. Products designed for near-prime borrowers, supported by clear criteria and sensible underwriter discretion, help ensure that temporary financial stress doesn’t lead to permanent exclusion from the housing market.
The rise of the nearly prime borrower isn’t a sign of weakening financial discipline. It’s a reflection of economic reality. More people are navigating complex financial lives and credit files don’t always keep pace with recovery.
For the mortgage market, the challenge – and the opportunity – lies in recognising this shift. By combining data, judgement and open broker-lender dialogue, the industry can continue to support responsible homeownership in a way that reflects how people actually live, earn and recover.
In that sense, nearly prime isn’t a problem to be solved, it’s a reality to be understood.
Source:
FCA Financial Lives Survey 2024
https://www.fca.org.uk/financial-lives/financial-lives-2024