Obtaining a mortgage has become increasingly difficult since the credit crunch and the situation is worsening according to recent reports. Several lenders have recently increased mortgage rates for new borrowers, including Abbey, HSBC, Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Santander, Britannia, and Cheltenham & Gloucester. Customers taking out new fixed, tracker or discounted home loans will have to [...]
Brokers have noticed a rising trend on mortgage rates and are blaming it on the current crisis in the eurozone. Woolwich, Halifax and Santander, Nationwide, ING and the Chelsea Building Society have all increased tracker mortgage rates recently, reversing this summer’s trend for rates to become more competitive. The Chelsea Building Society has increased the [...]
The number of homeowners who saw their properties repossessed by lenders fell to a two-year low in the first three months of 2010. New data from the Financial Services Authority put the total the number of repossessions at 10,500, down 11% on the final quarter of 2009. In addition, new mortgage arrears declined by 2%, [...]
Mortgage rates are at their lowest for seven years, according to new research. The study by Moneyfacts.co.uk found the average interest-rate on a two-year fixed rate mortgage is 4.52%, the lowest since September 2003. Interest rates on fixed rate mortgages have been dropping since September last year as lenders attempt to entice borrowers away from [...]
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has today revealed a rise in sales of previously owned homes in the US for the month of April, boosted by the expiration of a Government tax credit, which ended last month. The industry body said sales surged 7.6% in April (a five-month high) to an annual rate of [...]
The Commerce Department today revealed that the world’s no.1 economy grew at a slower rate in the third quarter than previous estimates showed. According to official figures, the US economy grew by 2.2% between the July and September period, rather than the 2.8% previously reported and the original estimate of 3.5%. The figures come on [...]
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. [...]
Yesterday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with bank chiefs from Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide as the City struggles with fallout from the US sub-prime crisis and the credit squeeze. No. 10 said the talks were to discuss ways to improve confidence in the housing market and was not a crisis [...]
Despite calls by the Government for mortgage lenders to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers, nationalised Northern Rock still has not passed on last week’s interest rate cut. The crisis-torn bank said its standard variable rate (SVR) is still under review after Chancellor Alistair Darling said lenders should do more to help homeowners. A [...]
Households more optimistic about their finances
Household finances are still deteriorating, but at a slower rate, according to the Markit household finance index. The index increased from 37.5 in July to 38.9 in August, with figures above 50 representing a positive change in household finances, and figures below 50 representing a negative change. The August figure represents the third consecutive monthly [...]
Think tank calls for council housing sell off
The Policy Exchange, a leading UK think tank, is calling for expensive social housing to be sold as it becomes vacant. This could raise £4.5 billion a year and the money could be used to create the largest social house building programme since the 1970s, the think tank suggests in a new report. Between 80,000 [...]
Barclays appoints new chairman
Barclays has announced the appointment of Sir David Walker as its new chairman. He will take over from Marcus Agius who resigned from the role after Barclays was fined £290 million by regulators in the UK and US for manipulating Libor, the interbank lending rate. The appointment of Sir David, a respected and experienced banker, [...]
Post Office stepping up mortgage offering
The Post Office is expanding its mortgage service with the introduction of mortgage specialists in its branches. Mortgages have been available from the Post Office since 2009, but applications have had to be made online or over the phone. It currently offers mortgage with deposits as low as 10 per cent and plans to enhance [...]
Help Loan closed after breaching money-laundering rules
Payday Loan company MCO Capital has been closed down by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and fined £544,000 after failing to check the identity of its borrowers. The firm, which traded as Help Loan, was targeted by criminals and cheated of more than £1.5m by the fraudsters due to its negligence. The criminals stole [...]
Health insurance becoming unaffordable warns Bupa
The rising cost of private healthcare is pushing health insurance in the UK up to unaffordable levels, according to international healthcare group Bupa. A lack of competition among private hospitals has led to the cost of treatment rising, and the insurer says that this could lead to health insurance becoming unaffordable. An increase in the [...]
Bank of England forecasts zero economic growth
The Bank of England does not expect the UK economy to grow at all this year according to its latest quarterly report. It had previously forecast growth of 2 per cent for 2012 but recent gloomy economic data has led to the growth forecast being revised downwards. The forecast for medium-term growth has also been [...]
Standard Chartered in money-laundering scandal
Standard Chartered has become the latest UK bank to be accused of illegal activity. It has been accused by the New York department of financial services of hiding $250 billion worth of illegal transactions with Iranian banks between 2001 and 2010. The US regulator claims that the bank, which has wholesale banking, corporate finance and [...]
Economy benefiting from PPI refunds
The UK economy is receiving a welcome boost from compensation paid by banks to customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). British banks have already paid out £9 billion after it came to light that they had been routinely mis-selling insurance policies designed to protect repayments on mortgage, loan and credit cards. With payouts [...]
Average house price falls to £161,000
House prices fell in July, to an average of £161,094 across the country, after increasing in the previous two months. Prices fell by 0.6 per cent in July, compared with the previous month, according to the Halifax House Price Index. Average prices are also 0.6 per cent lower compared with July 2011, the Halifax said. [...]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
