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 [...]
The Funding for Lending scheme (FLS) is failing to boost the supply of mortgages for first-time buyers, according to financial information service Moneyfacts. FLS, which was launched by the Treasury and the Bank of England in August, is designed to reduce funding costs for lenders, allowing them to increase their lending to businesses and individuals, [...]
The mortgage market continues to be volatile, with lending falling by 5 per cent in June, after a sharp rise in May. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders a total of £11.9 billion was lent to first-time buyers and those moving house, last month. In May, gross mortgage lending totalled £12.5 billion. Lending for [...]
The Co-operative Bank has announced plans to increase its standard variable mortgage rate (SVR) by 0.5 percentage points to 4.74 per cent from 1 May. The increase means that 54,000 mortgage borrowers will have to pay an average of £15 a month more on their mortgage. The bank has increased its rates to help offset [...]
The number of first time buyers increased significantly last year as more high loan to value (LTV) mortgages became available, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor from e.surv chartered surveyors. The number of mortgages advanced at an LTV of 85% or more increased by 32 per cent to 57,301 in 2011 compared with 43,379 in [...]
Home buyers with a zero to 40% deposit currently have 1,798 mortgage deals to choose from, according to Moneyfacts.co.uk. Researchers at the financial website have registered a 6% rise in the number of home loans on offer in the past month, taking the total up 68% year-on-year. While those with 5% or less to put [...]
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 Council of Mortgage Lenders has named Lloyds Banking Group as the top mortgage lender for 2008, by market share. The body explains that its data assumes the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS took place earlier than it did in fact, to allow for a sound comparison. On this basis, the group increased its [...]
Abbey and Alliance & Leicester (A&L) are together claiming to be the UK’s second-biggest mortgage lenders, behind HBOS. Both banks belong to Spanish group, Santander, which reported its half-year results this week. The figures reveal that Abbey and A&L were responsible for 16.3% of the UK’s gross mortgage lending during the six months to the [...]
The Government has announced an inquiry into the UK mortgage market, focusing on arrears, repossession and access to mortgage finance. The Treasury Select Committee will undertake the study which will look at the impact of the recession on existing and potential homeowners. MPs will collect lenders’ statistics on current arrears and their forecasts for medium-term [...]
Abbey, which is now the UK’s second largest mortgage lender, increased its share of the home loans market to 15.9% in the first three months of the year. The figure translates as a meteoric rise when compared with the 4.9% share held in the first quarter of 2007, rising to 8.5% in the final quarter [...]
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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