News Tag: lenders
March 17, 2010
The full extent of UK mortgage fraud in the lead up to the credit crisis is probably as yet unknown and signs of economic recovery have prompted the National Fraud Authority (NFA) to remind lenders that they must continue to combat the crime.
According to the NFA, almost £144 billion was loaned in mortgages in 2009, representing an attractive target for criminals.
The ...
Mortgage fraud threat as economy recovers
by Gill Montia
March 16, 2010
New research from Moneyfacts.co.uk claims there has been a 70% rise in the number of mortgage products available in just under a year.
According to the financial website, borrowers now have 2,053 deals to choose from, compared with 1,209 in April 2009, when the figure bottomed out.
Furthermore, a significant boost has occurred since the beginning of January, with the number ...
Mortgage deals up 70% in under a year
by Gill Montia
January 26, 2010
Mortgage borrowers in arrears stand to get a better deal from lenders under new proposals published today by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The package is aimed at ensuring home owners in financial difficulties are treated fairly, by strengthen existing rules on arrears handling and promoting the regulator's "tough stance" on mortgage fraud.
Under the proposals lenders will not be able to: ...
FSA defends home owners with mortgage arrears
by Gill Montia
January 8, 2010
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) replaced HSBC as the UK's most consistently competitive mortgage lender during the final quarter of 2009.
According to research by mortgage search software firm, Evaluate Technologies, A&L surged ahead despite having failed to register any of its home loans in best buy tables during the previous quarter.
The lender, which is to be rebranded Santander later this year, managed ...
A&L most consistently competitive mortgage lender
by Gill Montia
December 24, 2009
Lenders are cautiously expanding their mortgage offerings, with the number of home loans available rising steadily since August's low of 2,182.
According to moneysupermarket.com homebuyers and remortgagers can now choose from 2,430 products, although the figure is still well below the 3,384 available at the beginning of the year.
Encouragingly for first-time buyers, the most significant area of growth has been in loans ...
Mortgage offerings recover from summer low
by Gill Montia
November 19, 2009
Barratt Developments is to focus on building houses rather than apartments, in response to lenders' preferences.
The group's chief executive, Mark Clare, says the company will build what it knows it can sell and in the case of apartments, lenders are making life difficult for mortgage borrowers by asking for deposits of 25%.
The oversupply of new-build apartments in the UK's ...
Barratt shelves apartments as lenders prefer houses
by Gill Montia
November 5, 2009
With the prospect of new entrants into the UK mortgage market following the break up of RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, moneysupermarket.com has conducted a study that indicates Britons prefer to deal with established lenders when it comes to buying a property.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has already made it clear that the owners of the High Street chains to ...
Mortgage borrowers prefer banks to supermarkets
by Gill Montia
October 6, 2009
Evidence that the UK mortgage market is stabilising has emerged from Moneyfacts.co.uk, which has noted that lenders have been extending the shelf lives of their various offerings in recent weeks.
According to the financial website, the average mortgage product was available for 24 working days in September, up from 18 working days in August, and the longest period since October ...
Lenders extend shelf lives of mortgage offerings
by Gill Montia
September 16, 2009
Homeowners are gradually being offered a larger choice of mortgage products, although lenders remain cagey about attracting too much business, MoneyFacts.co.uk claimed this week
The number of mortgage products available dropped to a record low of 1,209 at the beginning of April, down from a peak of 11,951 products that were available in July 2007.
Since April, more products have come to market, ...
Lenders reluctant to cut mortgage rates
by David Masters
August 25, 2009
Consumers taking out a personal loan are "paying through the nose" due to soaring interest rates.
Banks are now charging an average APR of 10.32% on personal loans even though the Bank of England's base rate has been held at a record low of 0.5%.
This compares to an average personal loan APR of 8.71% in 2004.
"Despite the Bank of England slashing Base Rate ...
Rates soaring on personal loans
by David Masters
July 8, 2009
Homeowners struggling with mortgage repayments can be shy in talking about their difficulties, despite pleas from lenders and debt charities to seek help and advice early.
According to research from the Financial Services Consumer Panel (FSCP), 41% of those having difficulty paying their home loans struggle on unaided, even though seven out of eight borrowers in this group defined their problems ...
Homeowners reluctant to seek help over mortgages
by Gill Montia
June 26, 2009
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) claims that lenders are increasingly threatening customers in England and Wales with charging orders, in attempts to intimidate debtors into making unaffordable repayments.
A charging order is a means of securing an unsecured loan against equity in the debtor's property.
In a new report entitled "Out of order" the charity says evidence from ...
Charging Orders - the latest threat to indebted homeowners
by Gill Montia
June 24, 2009
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reported on its recent review of sub-prime lenders who are closed to new business, and on the third parties they instruct to handle mortgage arrears and repossessions.
The study found that both were operating "an approach focused too strongly on recovering arrears without reference to the borrower's individual circumstances".
Failings included being too ready to take ...
Sub-prime lenders too focused on recovering arrears
by Gill Montia
April 10, 2009
The Bank of England's sixth consecutive interest rate cut is finally having an impact on the housing market as interest rates on the nation’s five most popular mortgage deals are at their lowest for the last year and a half.
The Bank of England’s latest figures released yesterday shows that the average two-year fixed-rate deal available to borrowers, who ...
Mortgage rates at five-year low as interest rates held
by Peter Charalambous
April 9, 2009
A BBC Scotland investigation has suggested that Scottish homeowners struggling with mortgage arrears are more likely to be repossessed than their English and Welsh counterparts.
A programme screened on BBC One Scotland yesterday compared the legal measures available to prevent repossession in Scotland with those covering the rest of the UK.
The programme makers claimed that Scotland's failure to adopt the same ...
Scottish homeowners remain victims of aggressive lenders
by Gill Montia
March 26, 2009
John Charcol is advising remortgagers and first-time buyers to consider taking out fixed-rate loans.
A number of lenders have lowered fix-rates this month but according to the mortgage broker, the trend could soon reverse and today's relatively attractive offerings will disappear.
The firm explains that gilt yields for maturities of five years or more have fallen since the Government embarked on quantitative easing and ...
Fixed-rates may go no lower
by Gill Montia
March 19, 2009
Proposals from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on future regulation of the UK banking sector include the possibility of a cap on mortgages, in terms of their loan-to-value (LTV) or loan-to-income ratios.
The woes of the recession are linked to a decade of house price inflation fuelled by irresponsible lending by banks and others and epitomised in the 125% mortgage once offered ...
New FSA regulation threatens mortgage cap
by Gill Montia
March 9, 2009
Lenders have pledged to reduce standard variable mortgage rates (SVRs) in line with the Bank of England's 0.5% base rate cut.
Lloyds TSB, Abbey, Halifax, Barclays, Skipton, Cheltenham & Gloucester, and Nationwide have all promised to pass on the majority of the reduction.
The Bank of England last week cut the base rate in half to a record low of 0.5%.
Lloyds had ...
Lenders pledge to pass on rate cut
by David Masters
December 21, 2008
During the past 12 months, lenders have steadily increased their margins on fixed and tracker rate mortgages, according to research by financial website, Moneyfacts.
Over the past year, the Bank of England's base rate has fallen from 5.5% to 2%.
In addition the cost of borrowing on the money markets has decreased: three month sterling Libor, the rate at ...
Lenders’ margins take away the shine for new borrowers
by Gill Montia
