New mortgage lending showed a month-on-month fall of 4% in October, with 46,000 loans for house purchases advanced, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). At £6.7 billion, the value of the advances was down 6% on September and 12% on October 2009, although last year’s figure was bolstered by buyers taking advantage of [...]
Demand for house purchase mortgages continued to be weak in July, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported. In what is traditionally a strong month, there were only 56,000 house purchase loans (worth £8.4 billion), although volumes had increased from 53,000 a year earlier. Remortgaging activity remained flat when compared with June (28,000 loans) [...]
Mortgage borrowers who moved home in May saw their mortgage interest payments accounting for the lowest proportion of income since the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) began collecting data, in 1975. CML members made 27,100 loans to home movers, up 19% on a year earlier, while the proportion of income spent on mortgage interest stood [...]
The number of loans advanced for house purchases increased by 12% in February, showing a modest recovery on January when the figures were weak due to the end of the stamp-duty holiday and the severe winter weather. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) 35,000 house purchase loans were advanced worth £5 billion, up [...]
Home buyers needed to use less of their income to cover their mortgage interest in November than at any time for more than five years, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported. Home movers were particularly well placed, typically needing only 10.6% of gross income to cover mortgage interest payments, down from 11.1% in [...]
Latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that in September, one third of first-time buyers benefited from the current stamp duty holiday. There were 6,200 first-time buyer loans for properties priced between the old starting rate of £125,000 and the temporary threshold of £175,000, representing 32% of 19,700 first-time buyer loans approved. [...]
Bank of China has relaunched its mortgage offering to UK customers, having previously focused on the British Chinese community. The world’s third-largest bank says it can provide “straightforward and very easy to understand” variable-rate loans to first-time buyers, home movers and customers who want to re-mortgage. Buy-to-let investors are also being targeted by the bank, [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported a further fall in mortgage lending, in August. During the month, 42,200 loans were agreed for house purchases, with first-time buyers making up 15,600 of that number. Total lending for house purchases declined to £6 billion, 63% down on the same period in 2007. During the month, [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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