Rates on the rise act NOW!

Barclays / Woolwich who have had some very tempting deals for purchase and in particular re-mortgages have announced increases for applications submitted after Wednesday, but funds need to be booked TODAY (and these are rationed to £70m a day).

Those who watch these things may have noticed SWAP rates increasing over the last two weeks, reflecting market sentiment on inflation prospects and the expected knock on effect on interest rate rises and timings. After a period of falls since the General Election, rates have now started edging upwards again.

Whilst small at the moment, as ever no one can say if this is the start of a trend. No doubt we will all read differing opinions from so called "experts" as to interest rate prospects into the New Year.

Anyway, back to Barclays:
Variable margins increased by up to 0.2%, 2 year fixed 0.09%, 5 year fixed 0.3%.

Another "Kick in the Teeth"!

Accord, who are a wholly owned subsidiary of the now merged Yorkshire Building Society and Chelsea Building Society Group have just announced the following (timed today (7th December) at 17:15 hrs GMT):

"Please be advised that from tomorrow 08 December Accord will no longer accept the following forms of income:

Working Family Tax Credit and / or Child Tax Credit and / or Child Benefit".

These days most lender's "Affordability" Calculators will (probably rightly) reduce your net available income if you have children to pay for. However, in return they (currently at least) will then add back in child related benefits.

The only outcome of this type of decision if it is implemented across the industry, will be to further reduce the borrowing capacity of those with children. Those who currently have a mortgage could (in theory) find themselves trapped with their existing lender and unable to get a better deal elsewhere; due to these "moved goalposts".

So the morale of this sad story, maybe is don't wait to review your options, you may have the "rug pulled from under you"!

Some better news from the mortgage market!

November saw a loosening of credit conditions in the mortgage market for the first time in six months, research conducted by e.surv chartered surveyors has revealed.

More mortgages were approved by providers in the month and there were more successful applications at higher loan-to-value tiers. The number of mortgage approvals rose to 48,846 - the highest total since May - compared with 47,185 in October. It is the first time since April that a monthly increase has been recorded.

Good news for professional landlords

Buy-to-let finance for professional landlords has been somewhat restricted since the beginning of the financial crisis in August 2007. The majority of lenders in the market have imposed lending limits that favour smaller scale landlords and offer criteria that only caters for "simple" buy-to-let propositions.

 Buy-to-let lending in total has reduced by about 85%!

But what about professional landlords who often have complicated financial needs?

We could provide access to a service which has "been designed to specifically cater for professional landlords". "Including: tracker rates starting from 4.30% and fixed rates from 5.30%".

Lending criteria include professional landlords facilities,such as limited company lending,  multi-unit blocks, student lettings and Houses in Multiple Occupation and a maximum loan per property of £2 million and aggregate lending on a portfolio of up to £5 million.

Halifax to increase Standard Variable Rate

Don't panic, only for "new customers". At least that's what they say now!

Details as follows:

"We're introducing a new Halifax Homeowner Variable Rate (HHVR) for all new Halifax mortgages taken on or after 4th January 2011. This new rate will be the rate customers will revert to when their initial mortgage deal comes to an end. Set at 3.99%, the rate is competitively priced.

No existing mortgages are affected by the introduction of this rate. At the end of their current deal, all existing customers will continue to revert to the existing Standard Variable Rate, currently set at 3.50%, or any other relevant reversionary rate as set out in their mortgage documents".

However, if you are an existing customer and you sign up after 4th January to a new deal with Halifax, then you will have committed yourself to an increased follow on rate up 0.49%. 

Even better re-mortgage deals (no Fees) and now fixed rates

New today from a leading lender: "In addition to our best selling 2.18% Great Escape Tracker (pay rate now 2.68%) we are widening The Great Escape to include a 75% LTV Tracker, and for those clients who would like to escape from their existing lender but fix their rate straight away, we are launching 2 Year Fixed Rate Great Escape products at 70% and 75% LTV. All The Great Escape products have the following benefits: • Free legal work, free valuation and £300 cashback to cover existing lender's exit fee • No application fee. The key changes are: • New The Great Escape Products. 2 Year Fixed Rate, 3.28%, £0 fee, 70% LTV, min loan £50k. 2 Year Fixed Rate, 3.48%, £0 fee, 75% LTV, min loan £50k. Lifetime Tracker, BBBR+2.48% (pay rate now 2.98%), 75% LTV, £0 fee, min loan £50k." So if you are paying 4.24% to Abbey, 5.99% to Accord, 4.99% to Alliance & Leicester, 4.24% to Britannia, 3.5% to Halifax, 3.94% to HSBC, 4% to Nat West, 4.79% to Northern Rock, 4.99% to Woolwich......................... NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING!! Also worth knowing that the last one of these I did for a client took 11 working days from application until completion!

Best deals are with higher equity, so act now before house price falls may reduce that equity.

Is this a sign on things to come?

RBS / Nat West have just announced withdrawal of 2.75% (remortgage) fixed product: the current 50% LTV 2 year fixed at 2.75% (£0 arrangement fee and £250 cashback) with effect from midnight on Thursday 18^th November.

Why use a mortgage broker?

Found myself writing the following today to someone who is a first time buyer, is shopping around and wants a Decision in Principle without meeting:

A "decision in principle" (DIP) is only as good as the facts behind it. If details asked for (and also not asked for!), do not fit with a lender's underwriting requirements when a full application is made; then notwithstanding what a DIP says .....it is worthless and won't be honoured!

There is also no such thing as a numerical "credit score". The number that Experian and the likes put out, is how their computer works things out. This may have no relation to the priorities / assessments that a lender may program into their computer when it makes a lending assessment. Additionally, a lot of lenders assess your credit score as "high", "medium" or "low" and the maximum they could lend; depends on the outcome. This is why it is better to get an DIP. The facts behind any DIP need to be quantifiable (backed up by the right paperwork in the right way), as otherwise the decision is invalid.

Furthermore, if facts and figures are changed in any later DIP or application, the banks' fraud prevention systems will identify such discrepancies and usually lead to an automatic decline! These days, there is no such thing as an appeal against "computer says no"!

So, in my long winded way, what I'm saying is the only sure thing is to do the hard work up front; hence why I'm not able to make any kind of recommendation without a proper discussion. Frankly, it's a little bit like asking an internet "doctor" what is wrong with you, rather than having a proper examinination!

Buying a house with a mortgage is the biggest purchase most people make in their lives and I would suggest, it is worth a couple of hours face to face to get it right?

Santander tighten up lending into retirement

Santander (Abbey and Alliance & Leicester to you and me!) have announced today that "evidence is now required for both current and retirement income on all applications where a mortgage term goes beyond the applicant’s stated retirement age". So in other words if you want to borrow beyond the age you state that you plan to retire, they will want proof of your retirement income............ no matter if it is in 35 years time!

Falling Re-mortgage rates

Mortgage rates continued to fall during October as lenders tried to tempt homeowners to remortgage. The average cost of a tracker loan hit a new record low of 3.5%. Two-year fixed rate mortgages for people with a 25% deposit dropped to 3.72%, cost of a five-year fixed rate mortgage fell to... 4.85%.

In fact rates out there are better than most lenders SVRs and without fees!

So if you are paying 4.24% to Abbey, 5.99% to Accord, 4.99% to Alliance & Leicester, 4.24% to Britannia, 3.5% to Halifax, 3.94% to HSBC, 4% to Nat West, 4.79% to Northern Rock, 4.99% to Woolwich......................... NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING!!

Best deals with higher equity, so act now before house price falls may reduce that equity.