Any mortgage borrower in the UK is likely to be aware of the tough lending conditions that have dominated the market in the last few years. Lenders have tightened their criteria and getting a mortgage has become much harder than it was in the boom years. The goal posts continue to move even now, as [...]
More »Category : Mortgage advice
Q & A with Karen Barrett – Money Management
Karen Barrett - Unbiased
19/03/2012
Karen Barrett, chief executive of adviser directory unbiased.co.uk, plans a tasty alternative career and says people’s love affair with houses is not over. What was your first ever investment? An Aberdeen technology ISA, which was absolutely the worst decision anyone could have made as it was just before the dotcom bubble burst. Where were you [...]
More »Making the most of your mortgage this year
Contributing IFAs
16/01/2012
Jason Witcombe If you are a homeowner, are in work and have no debt other than your mortgage then times are actually quite good. Yes, there is lots of doom and gloom in investment markets and the cost of many of life’s essentials has been going up but what is probably one of your [...]
More »The benefits of offset mortgages – can they work for you?
Minesh Patel
12/12/2011
Savings rates are at an all-time low combined with inflation, Retail Price Index is around 5%. A 1 year fixed rate bonds pay around 3% before tax, 2 year fixed rate bonds pay around 4% gross and the best 5 year fixed rate bond at the time of writing paid 4.65% gross. Interest is then [...]
More »Should I have a fixed rate mortgage?
David Hollingworth
14/11/2011
The first question that most borrowers will ask is whether they should take a fixed rate or opt for a variable deal. Once they decide that the security of a fix is the right option for them the next question is how long to fix for. With interest rates at a record low it would [...]
More »Is Equity Release for you?
Lorreine Kennedy
17/10/2011
Equity Release has a mixed reputation – some of it completely justified. When equity release was first introduced, the benefits were heavily laden in favour of the lender. Often there were large penalties and unfair conditions: with the result that in the late 1980s and early 1990s Equity Release was receiving justifiable bad press. In [...]
More »How you can prepare your finances to secure a mortgage
David Penny
17/10/2011
It is true that some of the best mortgage rates for years are available at the moment. Ironically this is largely due to the wholesale money markets reflecting the parlous state of the world economy. The old saying that “a banker is a man who lends you an umbrella when the weather is good and [...]
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