Weatherbys Mortgages

Weatherbys Private Bank underwrites every mortgage by hand, does not rely on automated credit scoring, and has no upper age limit for borrowers, which makes it the private bank we turn to first for clients in their sixties and seventies who have been declined elsewhere on age alone. The bank publishes no minimum loan, no minimum income and no rate card for UK residents. What it does publish is the shape of its appetite: lending secured against residential property, bridging, secured loans and Lombard lending against an investment portfolio, all assessed on the whole financial picture rather than a multiple of salary. This page sets out what Weatherbys will lend on, who it suits, and where it is beaten.

See how Weatherbys compares with Coutts, Investec, Hampden & Co and the other UK private banks on our private bank mortgage lenders comparison.

What changed this quarter. Reviewed 10 October 2026. Two changes found. On 25 August 2026 Weatherbys Private Bank repriced its Lombard lending to an indicative 1.48% over Bank of England base rate, with a 1% arrangement fee, and opened it to portfolios managed at other firms. In late August it moved its Manchester team to a new office in Spinningfields as part of its North West growth plan. Bank Rate was held at 3.75% on 30 July and 17 September 2026, and the Weatherbys Base Rate has been 3.75% since 18 December 2025. Non-resident terms (£500,000 to £5 million, up to 65% loan to value) are unchanged.

What are the Weatherbys mortgage lending criteria?

Weatherbys does not publish a criteria guide, and it says so plainly: the bank uses flexible underwriting rather than fixed criteria. The table below is drawn from what the bank does publish on its own lending, non-resident and Lombard pages, from its Spear's profile, and from the cases we have placed. Where a figure is not published we say so rather than guess.

C. Hoare & Co is the other UK private bank that states in writing it has no maximum age for borrowers, with a published £10 million wealth expectation.

For how private banks use a portfolio to support a mortgage, see our investment-backed mortgages guide.

Lender criteria are set by Weatherbys, change without notice, and are not binding until confirmed in writing. Figures correct at the time of publication and checked against the bank's published lending material. Always confirm current terms with us before quoting a client or making an offer.

What mortgage products does Weatherbys offer?

Four lending products, all secured and all relationship-led. The residential mortgage covers the purchase or refinance of a main home or a buy to let, on capital and interest or interest-only, with the repayment plan shaped around how the client is paid rather than a fixed monthly instalment. The bridging loan is the product the bank leads with for speed: direct access to decision-makers, interest-only structures, and a lending committee that sits in-house. The secured loan releases capital from property or liquid investments for home improvements or gifting, which we see every year from grandparents funding a deposit.

The fourth product is the one worth understanding properly. Weatherbys Lombard lending is a revolving facility secured against an eligible investment portfolio, up to 50% loan to value, available to individuals, trusts and limited companies, and it can sit alongside a mortgage as part of the same security package. The facility works like an overdraft: the client draws what is needed, repays when convenient and pays interest only on the balance used. The bank will consider portfolios held with other managers, so the client does not have to move investments to Weatherbys to use it. The trade-off is the margin call. If the portfolio falls below the agreed level the client tops up or reduces the borrowing, and the bank says so clearly in its own material.

What are Weatherbys mortgage rates?

Weatherbys publishes no mortgage rate card. The only lending price the bank publishes is on Lombard lending, at an indicative 1.48% over Bank of England base rate with a 1% arrangement fee, which tells you the pricing basis the bank works to on all its lending: a margin over base rate, agreed case by case against the security, the gearing and the relationship. The Bank of England base rate is 3.75%, held at the 30 July and 17 September 2026 meetings, with the next decision due on 5 November 2026. Mortgage pricing is issued in the offer, not on a website, and it moves with the quality of the case.

Our blunt view is that nobody should go to Weatherbys for the rate. You go for the underwriting. A 68-year-old with £4 million in a portfolio and a modest pension is not a high street case at any price, and the difference between a Weatherbys margin and a high street fixed rate is irrelevant if the high street will not write the loan. Where the client is 45 with clean PAYE income at 60% LTV, the high street large-loan desks at Nationwide, HSBC and Barclays will beat a private bank on price and we say so before we submit anything.

Who is a Weatherbys mortgage right for?

Weatherbys was founded in 1770 and is still family-owned seven generations on, and it has kept its own specialist teams for landowners and farms, law firm partners, finance professionals, entrepreneurs, sports professionals, racing professionals, US citizens and non-residents. That list is a good description of who the bank wants. The common thread is a client whose wealth is real but whose income does not arrive as a monthly salary: a partner drawing quarterly profit shares, a landowner with rental and farming income across several entities, a retired executive living off a portfolio, or a US citizen with dollar income and a FATCA reporting problem that closes most UK lenders' doors.

The client we place with Weatherbys most often is aged 60 or over, asset-rich, income-light, and has already been declined or capped by a high street lender on age or on affordability calculated against pension income alone. In our experience roughly a third of the later-life enquiries we take are of this type, and Weatherbys is the bank that reads the balance sheet as well as the payslip. The second group is the bonus-heavy professional who wants repayments timed to bonus dates rather than spread evenly across twelve months, which the bank offers and the high street does not.

Can you get a Weatherbys mortgage as a non-resident?

Yes, and this is the one area where the bank publishes hard numbers. Weatherbys runs a Non-Resident Service for UK nationals living or working abroad, and its published lending for that client group is mortgage and loan facilities between £500,000 and £5 million, at up to 65% loan to value, with interest-only available for up to five years. Income and assets held both in the UK and overseas are taken into account, and the bank runs onshore multi-currency accounts alongside the lending. The bank also runs a dedicated service for US citizens, which matters because a US passport holder is one of the harder cases to place with a UK lender.

How does the Weatherbys application process work?

Weatherbys has no broker submission portal and no intermediary rate sheet. It works through named private bankers, and its intermediary services page describes receiving referrals from lawyers, accountants, tax advisers, investment professionals and trust companies as well as from brokers. In practice that means we discuss the case with a private banker first, agree that the shape of the case fits, and then present a full pack: income across all sources, a schedule of assets and liabilities, the investment portfolio if it is to form part of the security, source of wealth, and the repayment strategy for any interest-only element.

The bank's own published process runs from initial consultation, through a holistic assessment of income, assets, expenditure and liabilities, to a decision in principle from the in-house lending committee, then valuation and legals with Weatherbys liaising directly with the surveyor and solicitor, then drawdown. The bank promotes fast decisions and direct access to decision-makers, and that matches what we see. A well-packaged case with a clear asset position moves quickly. Assets across several jurisdictions and trusts take longer, and we say so before you instruct us.

How does Weatherbys compare with other private banks?

Weatherbys sits in the relationship-led group of UK private banks alongside Hampden & Co and Arbuthnot Latham, where the assessment is manual and the published criteria are thin by design. Against Coutts, which needs £1.5 million through a broker, and Investec, which needs £300,000 of income, Weatherbys publishes neither floor, and its stated position that its client thresholds are not set in stone is borne out in the cases we place. Where Weatherbys stands apart is age: no upper limit, stated in writing, with pension and portfolio income assessed. Where it loses is gearing and price. It will not compete with Investec at 85% loan to value, and it will not compete with the high street on a clean case at 60%. The full comparison is on our UK private bank mortgage lenders compared page.

For the wider market, including the specialist lenders that sit between the high street and the private banks, see our guide to high net worth mortgages and the large mortgages hub.

Frequently asked questions

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.