Santander mortgage cap jumps by as much as 24% as bank eases lending rules

Some higher-earning couples with smaller deposits could borrow extra 130,000 as a result of overnight changes

Some couples applying for a Santander mortgage will see the maximum they can borrow increase by 130,000 overnight after the bank loosened its lending rules.

Santander is the latest in a line of lenders to allow some borrowers to access bigger mortgages after intervention by the City regulator and new guidelines from the Bank of England designed to help more people on to the housing ladder.