Borrowers with Nationwide mortgages can now take out interest-free green loans of up to £20,000 to make their homes more energy efficient.
The lender is offering the 0% Green Additional Borrowing product as an incentive to encourage more homeowners to retrofit their homes and make changes which are better for the environment and reduce energy bills.
Those with a Nationwide mortgage can take advantage and borrow between £5,000 and £20,000 up to a maximum of 90% loan-to-value (LTV) across a two or five-year term.
Nationwide began offering green borrowing at 0% in June 2023, with the maximum limit set at £15,000. However, take-up has been very low, with just 1,900 applications completed since launch until the end of September 2024.
Now, as well as increasing the maximum borrowing, the lender is also removing a requirement for new customers to wait six months before becoming eligible to apply for the loan. It hopes by making the product even more attractive and by removing barriers to access more people will be encouraged to apply.
In report looking at how to make homes more green, Nationwide revealed the UK’s 28 million homes are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for approximately 15% of the national total.
This, it said, is why retrofitting is such a critical part of the UK’s journey towards the UK’s 2050 net-zero ambition.
As well as looking at the barriers to making green changes, Nationwide is also calling on the government to do more by taking decisive action in promoting the greening of homes. Among its recommendations it proposes the launch of a National Retrofit Hub, which would support consumers from the beginning to the end of the retrofit journey plus more incentives for banks and building societies to offer their mortgage customers low-cost additional borrowing for retrofits.
Graham Lloyd, Nationwide’s head of strategy and sustainability, said: “We believe the UK’s 2050 net-zero target can only be met through incentivising people to invest in their homes.
“As a mutual, we have chosen to make a difference, which is why we’re making it as easy and attractive as possible for our mortgage customers to retrofit their properties.
“But much more needs to be done and we need both the government and businesses to step in and step up to create meaningful progress. This cannot continue to be kicked down the road, as it has been for some years now.”
