The Co-operative Bank and Britannia today launched a new five-year mortgage at a fixed-rate of 3.99%. The mortgage is available to homeowners with a deposit of at least 25%. Borrowers taking out the mortgage are required to pay a £999 fee. The two providers, which merged last year, also announced a two-year fixed rate mortgage [...]
Britain’s largest mutually-owned retailer, the Co-operative Group, has today posted “record sales and profits” for the 2009 year after its acquisition of Somerfield and its merger with the Britannia building society. The group said underlying operating profits before significant items soared 20% to £473 million over the year, while revenue was £13.7 billion. Meanwhile, the [...]
According to reports this weekend, Coventry Building Society is in merger talks with its smaller rival, the Stroud & Swindon. The talks follow a series of recent mergers between Britain’s building societies and, should a deal be successful, will bring more consolidation to the mutual sector. The news comes as Coventry, which is the country’s [...]
Britain’s largest mutually-owned retailer, the Co-operative Group, has today posted a 17% increase in profits for the six months to 25 July of £228.8 million. The retailer, which is the UK’s fifth largest following its acquisition of Somerfield, said sales of its re-launched and extended ‘Simply Value’ range were up almost 80% on the year. [...]
First time buyers are being further squeezed out of the mortgage market with one of the UK’s biggest lenders pulling its 10% deposit products. Britannia, which merged with Co-operative Bank earlier this year, said it will no longer offer mortgages to borrowers with a 10% deposit. The news further diminishes the tiny number of lenders [...]
The Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) plans to build on its credentials as a “principled” and “ethical” organisation, chief executive Neville Richardson said today as he announced the firm’s first half-year results. “We are at the start of creating something quite special within UK financial services, a business which is member-owned, customer-led and ethically guided,” Richardson [...]
The merger of Britannia building society with Co-operative Financial Services has resulted in 3,600 of the mutuals’ conveyancing panel members being dropped. Typically, solicitors on a lender’s approved panel act for the buyer and the lender. However, the system is open to abuse and could facilitate mortgage fraud because the solicitor involved is responsible for [...]
Savers who care about whether their savings are used to fund arms companies or renewable energy received welcome news today with the merger of Britannia Building Society and The Co-operative Bank. The merger aims to create a “trusted and ethical alternative to shareholder-owned bank.” All three million Britannia members have joined or been given to [...]
In a further reshaping of the UK mortgage market, the maximum length of a fixed-rate deal is down to 15 years, following Manchester Building Society’s withdrawal its 30-year fix. Prior to the credit crisis, the Government was proposing to help lenders offer more affordable long-term fixed-rate products, which at the time were common in the [...]
Britannia Building Society has reduced rates on its two, three and five-year fixed deals by up to 0.95%. The new home loans are available from today (27th February) and the range includes a five-year fix with a rate of 4.24% for a 60% loan-to-value ratio. An arrangement fee of £999 applies. The lender is also [...]
Standard Life Bank has cut rates and fees on certain products in its Freestyle range. From today, the rate on its three-year fixed home loan is down to 5.95% for up to 50% loan-to-value (LTV); five-year fixed residential rates are available from 5.99% (up to 75% LTV) and ten-year from 6.19% (up to 75% LTV). [...]
Britannia Building Society is launching a new five-year fixed-rate mortgage on Friday 18th July. The loan will be available at a rate of 5.99% on loan-to-values (LTVs) of up to 75% and 6.39% on LTVs up to 90%. A £999 arrangement fee applies in both cases. The lender is still offering its existing five-year fixed-rate [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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