Affordability

Better affordability decisions.
Better customer outcomes.

Independent affordability reviews and bespoke mortgage affordability calculators for building societies and specialist lenders.

Discuss your approach View live demo ↗
The challenge

Affordability can become restrictive without anyone intending it to.

01
Outdated assumptionsLegacy expenditure assumptions can drift away from how households actually spend, creating avoidable declines and weak evidence trails.
02
Broker frictionDownloadable spreadsheets and static forms make a lender harder to deal with than competitors offering fast, intuitive digital journeys.
03
Limited internal capacitySmall specialist teams often do not have the time or dedicated affordability expertise to continually rebuild and maintain complex logic.
04
Implementation constraintsEven sensible changes can stall when they depend on scarce technology resource or a wider change programme.
Two ways we can help

Improve what you have — or replace it with something better.

01 · AFFORDABILITY REVIEW & OPTIMISATION

Already have an approach? Test whether it is still doing the job.

An independent review of your current methodology, assumptions and customer outcomes — identifying where outdated calibration or policy choices may be unnecessarily restricting lending.

Review expenditure assumptions, household segmentation, stress rates and calculation logic
Assess the approach against current evidence and available sector context
Identify unintended customer-outcome or conversion impacts
Provide a prioritised set of practical recommendations for your existing tooling
Discuss a review →
02 · BESPOKE AFFORDABILITY CALCULATOR

A proven methodology, configured around your lending appetite.

A modern affordability framework combining robust expenditure evidence with your own policy and risk appetite, delivered through a configurable calculator with optional digital and API implementation.

Evidence-based methodology using ONS expenditure evidence and Minimum Income Standard
Calibrated to your own LTI, DTI, stress-rate, LTV and policy requirements
User-friendly digital experience for brokers, BDMs and underwriters
Designed to avoid a major technology programme
View live demo ↗
The methodology

Evidence-led, but still built around your appetite.

Affordability should reflect how households actually spend while remaining aligned to the lending decisions your Society intends to make.

ONS expenditure evidenceGranular household spending patterns by composition, income and employment characteristics.
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Minimum Income StandardAn additional evidence source supporting a socially acceptable standard of living and fair customer outcomes.
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Your lending appetitePolicy, affordability rules and calibration specific to your business.
Track record

Built from practical lending experience, not a theoretical model.

Dharma Risk's affordability work now includes four calculator builds, combining statistical evidence, CRO-level risk judgement and practical implementation experience.

4Affordability calculator builds completed / commissioned
8%Up to 8% higher accept rate in back-testing against an incumbent approach
20%Up to 20% higher average affordable loan amount in back-testing against an incumbent approach

The 8% and 20% figures are modelled results from back-testing a redesigned affordability methodology against the incumbent approach at a large UK building society. The redesigned approach was subsequently implemented. Actual live outcomes depend on applicant mix, lending policy, portfolio characteristics and implementation choices.

See it working

Don't just read about it. Try it.

Explore a working version of the Dharma Risk affordability calculator and see how a modern broker-facing journey can feel.

Launch live demo ↗ Discuss your requirements