Members from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mortgage Prisoners today issued an open letter calling for a halt to repossessions against borrowers who saw their home loans sold onto inactive or unregulated lenders following the financial crash. Up to half-a-million mortgage borrowers in the UK saw their home loan sold onto such lenders following the crash,…
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Housebuilders are in the firing line as the competition watchdog revealed it has found ‘troubling evidence’ that leasehold homes were mis-sold. Some 100,000 families across the country are currently trapped in unsaleable homes due to the restrictive terms in their leasehold contracts. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has evidence that these families…
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THE UK is leaving the EU this Friday and entering a transition period, which will impact homeowners in Britain. Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill passed through Parliament last week, paving the way for the country’s exit from the European Union. How could things change after January 31. This will see the UK remaining in the EU…
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The self-employed face a looming crisis as millions are being locked out of home ownership due to mortgage lenders’ failure to understand their finances, experts have warned. Contractors, sole traders, gig economy workers, freelancers, and even early-stage start-ups all make up the UK’s 4.8million strong self-employed workforce. This number is growing rapidly, particularly among younger…
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House prices fell unexpectedly in September as uncertainty around Brexit dampened activity, according to Nationwide’s index. The building society recorded a 0.2% fall from a month earlier, below a 0.1% forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts. Compared with September last year, the average house price across the UK rose by 0.2% to £215,352. But quarterly measures in Nationwide’s…
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HELP TO BUY ISAS are currently available for new savers to open, however the deadline for doing this is looming. What will happen to savings in a Help to Buy ISA after this date? The Help to Buy ISA scheme is a type of ISA which sees account holders able to benefit from a government bonus of…
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Homeowners whose 2-year, fixed rate mortgage deals are about to end have been warned to act now to avoid standard variable rates. In September 2017, the average 2-year, fixed mortgage rate hit its lowest ever level at 2.17%, according to Moneyfacts. Borrowers can swap to deals almost as cheap as that now, but those who…
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Official figures have confirmed that almost 2,000 more first-time buyers climbed onto the property ladder in July than in the same month last year. Data released today by banking trade body UK Finance revealed that there were 32,640 new first-time buyer mortgages completed in July, some 5.8% more than in the same month last year. …
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Mortgage rates and savings rates are part of a complex financial web that draws on official lending costs, ie base rate, money market funding costs, and competition for savers’ deposits. The traditional influence on fixed rate mortgages over the past decade has been swap rates, the cost of obtaining fixed term funding on the money…
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It’s the best time in seven years to take out a longer mortgage as new data shows the gap between 2 and 5 year fixes has reduced to near record lows. 2 year fixes have plateaued in price over the past few months, following a prolonged period of falling rates thanks to fierce competition among…
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