First Direct, part of the HSBC group, has launched a fee-free offset base rate tracker mortgage. Interest remains at 0.99% above base rate for the term of the mortgage (currently 5.99%) and the lender promises an immediate rate change, following a Bank of England announcement. The loan is only available to remortgagers and is linked [...]
Legal & General Mortgage Club is launching a two-year tracker loan at 5.99% (base rate plus 0.99%) on 9th August. The new deal, which is available at up to 75% loan-to-value for new purchases and remortgages, is being provided by Scottish Widows Bank, in its first offering through the mortgage club. The loan carries a [...]
Lloyds TSB and its mortgage subsidiary, Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G), are cutting interest rates on two-year fixed-rate and tracker loans. The lenders’ full-term tracker mortgages will see the maximum benefit, with rates reducing by 0.38%, to 5.95%. The maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio on these deals is 20%. Interest on two-year fixed-rate loans with a maximum [...]
Moneysupermarket.com is alerting homeowners to the fact that the average two-year tracker mortgage is offering increasingly good value. The price comparison website’s weekly credit crunch monitor shows that at the beginning of June, there was little difference between the cost of the average two-year fix and the average two-year tracker. However, the latest update puts [...]
Woolwich is cutting mortgage interest rates for the second time in two weeks. The lender, which is part of the Barclays group, is reducing the rate on its 10-year fixed-rate deal by 0.32 percentage points, to 5.94%. Rates on three-year and five-year fixes will fall by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. The move follows rate cuts [...]
For the second time in a fortnight, Nationwide is cutting mortgage rates. The lender says that new borrowers will benefit from a reduction of up to 0.46% on some of its two, three and five-year fixed-rate deals and its two-year lifetime tracker mortgages. The building society is cutting the rate on a two-year fixed-rate deal [...]
The Co-operative Bank has launched a fee free three-year tracker mortgage that is being made available to Co-operative Bank current account holders only. The loan comes with an interest rate of 5.99% (BoEBR (Bank of England Base Rate) + 0.99%) and a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of up to 75%. Those will less equity in their [...]
Co-operative Bank has launched a lifetime tracker mortgage at 1.04% above base rate, giving a current interest rate of 6.04%. The economic uncertainty created by the credit crisis is prompting an increasing number of borrowers to opt for fixed-rate loans, with Abbey reporting that applications for five-year fixed-rate products had doubled in the past month. [...]
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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