Lenders are shunning the remortgage market, and the situation is unlikely to change until 2011, according to housing intelligence outfit, Hometrack. The firm’s strategy, risk and economics director, Gary Styles, explains that lenders have been focusing their attention on house purchase lending, in some cases because they have government targets to hit. In addition, remortgaging [...]
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 [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that approvals for house purchase loans increased to 55,000 in October, the highest level since December 2007 and up from a January 2009 low of 23,000. However, October remortgaging approvals remained static on a month earlier at 33,000 and apart from a total of 30,000 in August, [...]
New mortgage lending fell back in August, according to the latest Trends in Lending report from the Bank of England. Approvals for house purchase loans stuck at 52,317, compared to 52,404, in July. The dip represents the first fall in new mortgage approvals since November of last year, when the number of homebuyer loans sanctioned [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that the number of loans approved for house purchases rose 4% in May compared to April, to 37,400. However, volumes were 28% down on a year earlier and well below the 96,000 May average of the past seven years. May remortgaging volumes tumbled 9% on a month [...]
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has published its latest mortgage lending statistics showing that in May, the number of loans approved for house purchases rose to 31,162. The figure is up from 29,018 in April and sports an increase of 15.8% on May 2008. However, gross lending fell to £7.7 billion last month, a figure [...]
John Charcol claims there has been a “sharp increase” in house purchase activity so far this year year. The broker says that in May, mortgage applications for house purchases were higher than for remortgaging for the first time since 2007. The firm’s Monthly Mortgage Index shows that business connected to house purchases hit 53.4% last [...]
New figures from the Bank of England show the number of mortgages approved for house purchases rising for the third successive month in April. Lenders approved 43,201 loans to home buyers, up from 40,000 in March. The figures suggest that completed transactions, which increased 35% in March compared to February, should continue to rise. Remortgaging [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that house purchase lending accounted for 35% of all mortgage lending in March, up from 31% in February and the highest proportion since December 2007. First-time buyers put in a stronger presence, accounting for 40% of house purchases, up from 38% in February. However, the number of [...]
Figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) show a rise in the number of mortgages approved for house purchase in February, signalling the third consecutive monthly increase. Last month 28,179 loans for house purchases were sanctioned, up from 24,278 in January and significantly ahead of November’s record low rate of 17,878. However, February’s figure is [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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