News Tag: Northern Rock News
March 10, 2010
State-owned bank Northern Rock has today announced losses for the 2009 year fell to £258 million, compared with £1.36 billion in the previous year.
Despite the loss, the Newcastle-based bank said it is awarding staff £14.9m in bonuses but Gary Hoffman, the chief executive of Northern Rock, is waiving his payout.
Northern Rock said Mr Hoffman’s long-term incentive plan would only pay out after ...
Northern Rock sees losses narrow
by Kay Murchie
January 23, 2010
Both Northern Rock and the Post Office have launched new mortgage deals with lower rates.
The Post Office has cut the cost of its Bank of Ireland lifetime tracker loans from 3.29% to 2.99%, or from 3.59% to 3.49%, dependent upon the loan-to-value ratio.
Bank of Ireland has also reduced the price of its five-year fixed-rate offering by 0.5% ...
Mortgage rate cuts from Post Office and Northern Rock
by Gill Montia
September 25, 2009
Northern Rock has introduced a new range of home loans with rates starting at 2.99%.
The state-owned lender's "Flexible" offering includes a two-year tracker at 2.99% (Bank of England base rate + 2.49%) with a £995 fee, or at 3.79% with no fee.
Both options are offered at a maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 65% and are available to house purchasers and remortgagers.
For ...
Northern Rock launches “Flexible” mortgage range
by Gill Montia
August 4, 2009
Blighted by its "Together" 125% loan-to-value mortgages, Northern Rock has revealed that residential mortgage accounts over three months in arrears rose to 3.92% in the six months to the end of June.
The proportion compares with a national average of 2.39% and is up from 3.67% at 31st March 2009 and 2.92% at 31st December 2008.
Excluding "Together" loans, residential mortgage ...
Northern Rock “Together” mortgages push up arrears
by Gill Montia
July 6, 2009
Northern Rock is once again offering mortgages to existing customers.
The move follows a gap of well over a year during which period borrowers coming off fixed deals either reverted to the Rock's standard variable rate or were forced to go elsewhere.
The nationalised lender is strictly interested in retaining its best customers and only those with at least 25% equity in ...
Northern Rock offers mortgages to existing customers
by Gill Montia
June 24, 2009
Northern Rock is leading the field in "prime" mortgages that have fallen into negative equity.
A new report from ratings agency, Fitch, reveals that almost one in six households at the upper end of the UK property market have home loans that exceed the value of their properties.
In the case of the state-owned Northern Rock, 32% of its Granite prime-loan book is in ...
Negative equity afflicts “prime” homeowners
by Gill Montia
April 23, 2009
The nationalised mortgage lender, Northern Rock, has announced plans today to increase lending over the next two years to £14 billion to Britain's homebuyers.
Having sought out a £25 billion bailout from the Bank of England in February last year, it is now in a position to help the stumbling property industry with up to £5 billion of that lending occurring within 2009.
Despite ...
Northern Rock’s £14bn mortgage surge
by Peter Charalambous
April 22, 2009
HSBC is the best high street bank for customer service, according to mystery shopper research by Prophet.
The innovation strategy consultants found that of the ten banks surveyed, only HSBC and Citi offer a customer experience 'above expectations'.
Barclays came in third place behind HSBC and Citi, providing a customer experience that met expectations.
Lloyds TSB and the Post Office were the worst for customer ...
HSBC tops customer service league
by David Masters
March 24, 2009
Lord Turner, the Financial Service Authority’s chairman, has said that as a result of increased regulatory control consumers are likely to face higher mortgage rates as costs are passed on.
The FSA is now considering a number of new measures in order to avert any future banking crisis.
The primary consideration is looking to increase the ...
Mortgage interest rates could rise steeply
by Peter Charalambous
March 3, 2009
Northern Rock has reported that its home repossessions rose by 63% last year to 3,620.
Arrears also soared with 17,264 borrowers three months or more behind with their repayments at the end of 2008, up from 3,492 at the close of 2007.
The rise takes the percentage of the bank's total mortgage book in arrears to 2.92%, compared with an industry average ...
Northern Rock arrears and repossessions soar
by Gill Montia
February 23, 2009
Northern Rock is reversing its post-nationalisation strategy of running down its mortgage book and will begin offering new loans of up to 90% of a property's value.
The move offers hope to the UK's beleaguered housing market, which despite the recent rise in new buyer enquiries reported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and property website, Rightmove, will ...
Northern Rock returns to new lending at 90% LTV
by Gill Montia
January 19, 2009
The bank bail-out package announced today by the Government could contain good news for Northern Rock borrowers and the UK mortgage market generally because the bank is being reinstated as a lender.
Since its nationalisation in February 2008, Northern Rock has focused on paying back its debt to the Government.
During last year, it was actually repaying the £26 billion owed to the ...
Northern Rock reinstated as a lender
by Gill Montia
December 10, 2008
Northern Rock mortgage borrowers will not all receive the full benefit of last week's cut in the base rate.
The nationalised lender's tracker rate customers will see the full 1% reduction but for those on its standard variable rate (SVR) the reduction will be 0.5% taking the rate down to 5.34%, from 1st January.
Mortgage borrowers, who have remained loyal ...
Northern Rock hedges on latest base rate cut
by Gill Montia
December 4, 2008
The Government yesterday announced further help for mortgage borrowers who are falling behind with repayments.
The new measures should mean that middle-income homeowners who lose their jobs or part of their income are less likely to face repossession.
In a scheme guaranteed by the state, borrowers will be able to approach their lenders to request up to two years' deferment of part of ...
Government proposes mortgage interest deferment scheme
by Gill Montia
December 3, 2008
Northern Rock is to follow the lead established earlier this week by Royal Bank of Scotland and not begin repossession proceedings until mortgage borrowers are six months or more in arrears with repayments.
The nationalised lender has come in for criticism over its repossession policy.
In October, debt charity Credit Action claimed that the bank's level of repossessions was twice ...
Northern Rock holds back on repossession for six months
by Gill Montia
November 26, 2008
In a move that could be seen as a snub to the Government, state-owned Northern Rock has increased rates on some of its most attractive mortgage deals.
For new borrowers, the bank's one-year fixed mortgage rate has increased from 3.99% to 4.19%.
Meanwhile, rates on the lender's two and five-year fixed-rate home loans have risen by up to 0.3%, potentially adding £40 a month ...
Northern Rock raises fixed-rates
by Gill Montia
November 6, 2008
Leading lenders withdrew tracker mortgages just hours before the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee agreed an historic 1.5% cut in the base rate, to 3%.
Lloyds TSB and its Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) unit, Northern Rock and Woolwich have all withdrawn tracker products today.
Yesterday, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) warned that lenders would not necessarily ...
Tracker loans whisked away as base rate cut to 3%
by Gill Montia
October 20, 2008
The downturn in the property market is forcing 60,000 homeowners a month into negative equity.
According to the credit rating agency, Standard & Poor's, research suggests that 335,000 homes will be worth less than their mortgages by the end of October, a rise of 260,000 over four months.
If the trend continues, the number of homes with mortgages above their value ...
60,000 homeowners a month enter negative equity
by Gill Montia
October 17, 2008
Credit Action is claiming that Northern Rock's level of repossessions is twice that of its rivals.
The debt charity is calling on the Treasury to intervene and insist that the nationalised lender responds more sympathetically to borrowers who fall behind with their mortgage repayments.
It would like the bank to introduce mortgage payment holidays to help struggling homeowners and to act less ...
Northern Rock twice as likely to repossess
by Gill Montia
October 15, 2008
Northern Rock has revealed the extent to which its "Together" mortgage, which offered borrowers up to 125% of their property's value, is putting pressure on its levels of arrears and repossessions.
"Together" loans, which were withdrawn in February, are a combination of a mortgage and personal loan.
They were particularly popular with first-time buyers who could fund their house purchase and ...
Northern Rock’s “Together” loans push up arrears
by Gill Montia
