Coventry Building Society has launched a range of green further advance products, which offer a lower rate of interest if people are borrowing to make eligible energy-efficient home improvements.

The new deals are are available to both homeowners and buy-to-let landlords, with fixed rate options for two and five years, and a maximum loan amount of £25,000.

At least half of the loan needs to be used for energy-efficient home improvements; the rest of the money can be used for other home improvements.

What’s new?

There is a 3.53% five-year fixed rate up to 75% of the property’s value with no product fee, available on residential mortgages.

And a five-year fix at 3.94% is on offer for buy-to-let mortgages, which also comes with no fee and is available to up 75% loan to value.

Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary relationships at Coventry Building Society, said: “Making energy efficient home improvements is becoming increasingly important to people. The assumption could be that we need to make big changes to our homes, but this initiative will show people how small changes can make a real difference.

“Creating a personalised action plan simplifies the steps people need to take and could go some way to help them save money on their energy bills whilst improving their home’s EPC rating. Homeowners and landlords can both benefit from our Green Further Advance products, with customers able to borrow up to £25,000 to put their plans into action – whether that be as small as draught-proofing windows or a bigger project like installing solar panels.”

Online energy-efficiency tool

The lender has also launched a tool on its website which shows people how to make their homes more efficient and save money on their energy bills.

The tool has been developed with support from Energy Saving Trust and, with just a few pieces of simple information about their property, homeowners can generate an action plan which will show;

• The current and potential EPC rating for each property
• Estimated energy costs and potential savings
• Suggested improvements tailored to each person’s budget and priorities, be that saving on bills, or reducing CO2 emissions
• Information on the household’s CO2 emissions.