Mortgages
The Royal Bank of Scotland cuts mortgage rates
The Royal Bank of Scotland today announced that its Standard Variable Mortgage Rate will decrease by 0.25 per cent to 7.69 per cent.
first direct launches new two year fixed rate offset mortgage
first direct, the only bank to immediately pass on last week’s Bank of England base rate cut to all variable rate mortgage customers, has launched a market-leading two year fixed rate offset mortgage priced at 4.99% (6.6% APR).
Intermediary lenders remain positive
Intermediary lenders remain optimistic about 2008, despite the current uncertainty in the market, reflecting the very positive fundamentals of high employment and strong housing demand that underpin the market.
AMI response to call for lenders to support borrowers
The Association Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) has today (12 December) issued a response to homeowners who may be facing a difficult time financially.
Bank rate affects little change to lenders’ funding
“Last week’s base rate drop brought a little relief to some home owners,” comments Katie Tucker of John Charcol. “However, LIBOR failed to fall along with it as expected, because lenders continue to be cautious about lending each other money. At today’s 6.62%, the lenders’ own cost of funding is still too high for them to reduce their mortgage rates.
Citizens Advice report into sub-prime lending
Commenting on the report from the Citizens Advice Bureau into sub-prime lending, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said:
All I want for Christmas...
Many people’s first Christmas wish for a cheaper mortgage came true this December with the bank rate drop to 5.5%. Charcol.co.uk, the complete mortgage service, looks at borrowers’ top five Christmas list wishes for Santa.
IMLA: Citizens Advice report ‘Set Up to Fail’
Responding to the Citizens Advice report, IMLA’s Executive Director Peter Williams comments: “Although much of the content of the Citizens Advice (CA) report offers a sensible review of the issues around mortgage arrears and possessions,
CML: Set up to fail
The Citizens Advice report, Set up to fail, is too simplistic in its criticisms of the lending industry, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
A helping hand from Yorkshire Building Society
Since August 2007 Yorkshire Building Society borrowers who are coming to the end of fixed rate mortgage deals lower than 5% have been facing large increases in their monthly payments.
RICS: CML October mortgage lending data
Commenting on the CML mortgage lending data, David Stubbs, RICS senior economist said: "Today's figures show that home buyers had begun to shift away from fixed rate deals as far back as October as the ensuing credit crunch raised expectations that the Bank of England would lower interest rates.
Abbey cuts standard variable rate by 0.25 per cent
Abbey has announced that it will cut its standard variable rate on mortgages by 0.25 per cent following the Bank of England interest rate cut on Thursday.
Variable rates gain favour as borrowers expect a rate fall
There was a move away from fixed-rate mortgages in October, with levels of new fixed-rate loans falling to 68% from 72% in September, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
5 top tips on how to protect your mortgage
Consumer confidence in the UK mortgage market has suffered since the Northern Rock crisis began, while interest rates are at a six year high of 5.5%. As a result Protection Specialists LifeSearch has seen a significant increase in mortgage related protection enquiries, including redundancy.
The Co-operative Bank to cut mortgage rates by 0.25%
Following changes to the Bank of England Base Rate, The Co-operative Bank will be passing on the full benefit of the base rate reduction to its mortgage customers, by cutting its standard variable rate (SVR) by 0.25% to 7.49%, with effect from 1 January 2008.