The average cost of a two-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a six-and-a-half-year low during February, according to new figures from the Bank of England. The average rate stood to 3.88%, down from 3.97% a month earlier to a level last seen in July 2003. Five-year fixed-rates also eased last month, declining to an average 5.49%, [...]
Coventry Building Society has announced plans to reduce the rates on its residential re-mortgage products. The new lower rates include a 2-year fixed-rate deal at 3.5% with £999 fees at 65% loan to value. The lender also revealed a new fixed-rate mortgage offering borrowers the opportunity to make unlimited overpayments without penalty. The new range [...]
Tracker rates fell to record lows in January, Bank of England statistics have revealed. For those with a 25% deposit, the rate on the average tracker deal declined to 3.63%, down from 3.92% in December. The shift indicates that competition is hotting up, given that the base rate has now been maintained at 0.5% for [...]
Moneyfacts.co.uk has revealed that the average interest rate on a two-year fix has fallen below 5% for the first time since June. Rates peaked at 5.21% in July but despite declining swap rates have only now come down to a typical 4.99% because banks and building societies, fearful of risk, have been upping their margins. [...]
HSBC has launched a new range of mortgages that includes a two-year discount deal at 1.99%. However, the bank’s “lowest-ever” rate is only available to borrowers with a 40% deposit. Those with at least 25% to put down can benefit from a discounted rate of 2.49%, compared to the lender’s current standard variable rate of [...]
Latest figures from Moneyfacts.co.uk show a sharp rise in the cost of a two-year fixed-rate mortgage during the past week. According to the financial website, the average cost of a two-year fixed-rate deal increased by 0.16% between Monday and Friday, to 4.90%. Meanwhile, five-year fixes increased by an average 0.21% over the same period, to [...]
Principality Building Society has launched a new two-year bond aimed at silver savers. The e-bond is available online to savers aged over-50, and pays interest at a fixed rate of 4% AER. Savers can deposit between £5,000 and £100,000 into the account. Interest is calculated daily, and customers can opt to have their interest paid [...]
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has launched a two-year tracker at 2.45% above base rate (currently 2.95%). The mortgage is available to both homebuyers and remortgagers who can stump up a deposit of at least 25%. It comes with a fee of £499 and the maximum loan size is £250,000. According to the lender’s director of [...]
Halifax has increased the cost of some of its fixed-rate home loans for new customers, effective from next week. The UK’s largest mortgage lender has hiked rates on 18 of its 52 fixed-rate deals by 0.2%. The move will not please the Government, which has so far committed £11.5 billion of taxpayers’ money to the [...]
HSBC is launching a new home loan at the astonishingly low rate of 2.99%. However, the lender’s Premier two-year discount deal is only available to its Premier customers who must hold £50,000 in savings and investments with the bank or already have a £250,000 mortgage with HSBC. They will also need a minimum income of [...]
Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has unveiled a new range of fixed-rate mortgages, available from 4th December. The lender, which is part of the Santander group, is reducing rates by up to 0.90%. Its offering includes a two-year deal at 4.94% (previously 5.79%), fixed until 31st December 2010. Customers can borrow up to 75% of a [...]
New research from Moneyfacts illustrates the extent to which fixed-rate home loans have resisted recent cuts in the Bank of England’s base rate. The financial website has found that interest on the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage currently stands at 6.13% and according to the firm’s analyst, Michelle Slade, has remained almost constant during the past [...]
RBS and its subsidiary, NatWest, have launched a new two-year fixed-rate home loan. Borrowers with a minimum 15% deposit can benefit from a rate of 5.74% and a reduced fee of £499. The rate on the new deal is up to 0.45% below those on similar products offered by the lenders, while the fee is [...]
Financial website, Moneyfacts.co.uk, has reported that the average interest rate charged on a two-year fixed-rate home loan now stands at 6.39%, down from a peak of 7.08% at the beginning of July. Michelle Slade, analyst at Moneyfacts, has confirmed that rates on this popular type of mortgage have returned to the levels seen just prior [...]
Financial data provider, Moneyfacts, has announced that rates on the typical two-year fixed mortgage have returned to their 2007 levels. Interest on the average two-year fixed-rate deal is now down to 6.59% from a high of 7.08% earlier this year. However, potential borrowers will need a hefty deposit to benefit from the fall because the [...]
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 [...]
Moneyfacts.co.uk has announced that the average interest rate on a two-year fixed-rate mortgage has fallen to 6.96%. Market swap rates have soared in recent months, taking rates on this popular type of loan to a ten-year high of 7.08%. However rates on the two-year and other fixed deals are now falling. In the case of [...]
New borrowers taking out two-year fixed-rate mortgages now face paying interest at over 7%. According to Moneyfacts, the financial information website, rates on this highly popular type of home loan are at their highest since February 1997. Five years ago, two-year fixed mortgage rates were around 4% and the increase means that the monthly cost [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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