Mortgage News
Fixed rates fall and tracker rates increase
“The good news for borrowers is that two year swap rates (on which lenders base fixed rate prices) have finally fallen under the 5% mark in anticipation of another rate cut, so fixed rates are now becoming much more competitive.” comments Katie Tucker of John Charcol.
L&C Mortgages welcomes Charcol’s move to free advice
L&C Mortgages, UK fee-free mortgage broker, welcomes the news that Charcol has decided to remove its broker fee for phone-based advice and will now only charge a broker fee through its face-to-face arm.
Charcol to offer fees free mortgage advice
Charcol, UK mortgage adviser, is now offering completely fees free mortgage advice from the whole of the UK market.
Demand for equity release increased by 9% in 2007
Despite the global credit crunch and speculation that the UK housing market is set to slow-down, the UK equity release market continued to thrive in 2007 with a 9% rise in demand compared to the previous year, according to figures from Key Retirement Solutions.
Goodbye to the gapper?
British students are finding it increasingly difficult to justify blowing a small fortune on gap year gallivanting, now that escalating property prices make it too difficult to get on to the property ladder when they return home. That’s according to latest research from Abbey Mortgages.
Skipton's SVR remains lowest of top 10 building societies
A reduction in the SVR of Skipton Building Society to 6.95% sees it become the lowest of any of the UK’s top 10 building societies - and 0.74% less than other high street lenders, such as Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock.
Post Office cuts mortgate rate
The Post Office has announced an interest rate cut to its three year fixed rate mortgage to 5.48 per cent – making it the best mortgage deal of its kind on the high street.
GE Money launches 3 year discount mortgage
Almost three quarters (70%) of the UK’s mortgage brokers believe that the Bank of England base rate will end the year lower than it finished 2007, according to GE Money.
Mortgage lenders tighten their belts
With expectations of a housing market slowdown this year, it seems that mortgage lenders have started to take a more cautious approach to ensure their fingers don’t get burnt.
Not all "doom and gloom" for borrowers
The Bank of England’s decision to maintain Base Rate at 5.50% may, on the face of it, appear to be a blow to borrowers and any hopes they had of a reduction in monthly outgoings dashed for at least another month.
Rate hold costs UK’s mortgage holders £105 million a month
“The fact that the MPC were unanimous in their decision to cut Bank Rate 0.25% last month, after seriously considering a 0.5% cut, was a strong early indicator that another cut this month was on the cards.
Chancellor Darling may be powerless, but you aren’t
The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold today, but there are indications that it may be persuaded to cut rates later on. However, homeowners should not assume that high-street lenders will pass on any interest-rate cut to everyone.
first direct will pass on in full any base rate cut
first direct will pass on in full any Bank of England base rate cut tomorrow, 10 January, to all its variable rate mortgage customers.
Brits unprepared for big life changes
Over the last two years, 15 million Brits suffered financially because they were unprepared for big life events, according to new research from Abbey Mortgages.
Relaxed singles twice as likely to ignore MPC rate decision
Interest rates may be predicted to come down in the coming months - but single people are almost twice as likely to ignore the Bank of England’s latest decision compared to couples, new Ipsos MORI research from Intelligent Finance shows.