One year's worth of rent payments will count as savings at one Westpac brand.Westpac is changing its treatment of savings, through St George.Defining one year's rent payments as being equivalent to savings widens the target market for the bank's home loans, including plenty of genuine prospects.Dean Rushton of Loan Market yesterday publicised the shift in credit standards.Rushton said St George will accept rent as a form of savings for a home deposit if there is evidence of a minimum of 12 months' continuous satisfactory rental history and the property is leased through a licensed property manager.He applauded the stance in an email yesterday."Australian lenders require a percentage of the purchase price - normally a five per cent minimum - to be saved for all loans, but it is extremely difficult for people paying the exorbitant rents customary these days to save money."Rushton wrote that "we expect other lenders to follow suit."