Mortgage News

The Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme

The Government has announced further details of the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme, intended to provide greater assurance to homeowners that they will be able to remain in their homes if they suffer a temporary fall in income, but are expected to recover at a later date.

Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme

Commenting on the clarification of the details of the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme by the Treasury, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, said:"After a week of whispers, finally the Government has confirmed what we all thought - that this scheme is virtually worthless and will benefit very, very few homeowners who may be struggling.

Alliance & Leicester cuts rates on two year fixed rate mortgages

From Friday 12 December, Alliance & Leicester is introducing new lower rates on its two year fixed rate mortgages and launches a new two year tracker - with rates starting at just 3.99%. The new products will be available via brokers, in branches or by telephone at Mortgage Direct.

Mortgage lending slump continues

There were 39,900 house purchase loans in October, worth £5.5 billion, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Abbey cuts fixed rates and introduces new

From Wednesday 10 December, Abbey is cutting rates by up to 0.6 per cent on its fixed rate mortgages.

HSBC to increase mortgage lending by a fifth next year

Commenting on HSBC announcing it is to increase its mortgage lending by a fifth next year, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, said: "It is great to see HSBC setting the standard in trying to kickstart the mortgage market by committing to increase its lending next year.

RBS and NatWest reduce its SVR

RBS and NatWest has announced that its Standard Variable Rate will be cut by 0.75% from 5.19 per cent to 4.44 per cent. The reduction follows a review after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision yesterday.

Nationwide will not enforce Tracker floor of 2.75%

Society delivers an expected £300m additional member benefit to support mortgage borrowers and reduces Base Mortgage Rate to 4.00%.

HSBC passes on base rate cut to personal and business customers

HSBC will lower its variable rate mortgage by 1 per cent to 4.44 per cent in line with the cut in the Bank of England base rate announced today.

Deferred mortgage interest payment scheme

Commenting on the news that some struggling homeowners will be able to defer interest payments on their mortgage for up to two years, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, said:

MoneyExpert.com: Bank of England base rate cut

Sean Gardner, director of MoneyExpert.com, said: "This is another massive rate cut that will bring further relief to homeowners, particularly those with tracker mortgages. And around six million of us have trackers and standard variable rates.

The MPC has 2% more to play with

Following the cut in Bank Rate today by the MPC of 1%, Ray Boulger of John Charcol, the UK's leading independent mortgage adviser, comments, "Last month's Quarterly Inflation Report highlighted a sea change in inflation expectations and all the subsequent statistics show the economic situation continuing to deteriorate rapidly.