Nationwide is introducing a big rule change for anybody earning over £30,000. Nationwide has announced a new Helping Hand mortgage shake-up which will allow people to buy a first property with a lower earnings threshold than before. Under previous rules, buyers needed to earn £35,000 each, or £55,000 as a couple. But now eligible first-time buyers can apply for Nationwide’s Helping Hand mortgage with a £30,000 salary, down from £35,000, and joint applicants with a £50,000 combined salary – down from £55,000. it comes after Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that cutting red tape for City firms will have trickle-down benefits for households across Britain. READ MORE State pensioners born before 1959 warned over 'overhaul' which could be 'bold' “I have placed financial services at the heart of the government’s growth mission – recognising that Britain cannot succeed and meet its growth ambitions without a financial services sector that is fighting fit and thriving,” Ms Reeves said. She said the reforms would have “a ripple effect that will drive investment in all sectors of our economy and put pounds in the pockets of working people”. “It feels like groundhog day. We’ve been here before, expecting the financial sector to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of growth,” said Chaitanya Kumar, head of economy and environment at the New Economics Foundation thinktank. “The 2008 crash and what followed should have been a very strong lesson to everybody in not completely letting the financial services sector off its leash: but that’s what we seem to be doing.” He added: “I just haven’t seen any evidence that deregulating the financial services sector is going to create significant growth.” Jesse Griffiths, chief executive of the Finance Innovation Lab charity, said it was clear that prioritising the needs of international financial firms over domestic needs had “simply not worked for the UK economy”. “Buying the City’s push for further deregulation risks derailing the government’s industrial strategy and increasing the risks of costly financial crises,” Griffiths said. “Instead of a more ‘globally competitive’ financial sector, we need reform to better serve UK businesses and drive domestic investment to where we need it, particularly for the green transition that will lower people’s bills and create the good jobs of the future.” “Put plainly, loosening mortgage rules really translates to saddling households with larger, less sustainable debts, instead of tackling the underlying causes of unaffordability,” said Sara Hall, a Positive Money director. “Even the Bank of England has suggested this move could actually push up house prices by flooding the market with greater demand, pulling the housing ladder even further out of reach for first-time buyers.”