Repossession threat as Government reduces home owner support

More families will lose their homes, charities warn, as the Government prepares to reduce the amount of financial support it provides to borrowers by as much as £200 a month.
The latest repossession statistics showed numbers dropping after the Government introduced several measures for home owners who lost their jobs amid the economic downturn.

But some of [...]

Home owners have no equity to remortgage

Home owners have so little equity left in the homes after the credit crisis that they are struggling to remortgage, experts warned.
The latest lending statistics suggested the number of people who remortgaged their homes in June was just 27,000, down 20 per cent on a year earlier.

The number of loans approved for those buying a [...]

UK mortgage lending picks up again

Mortgage lending to home buyers increased again in June according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
Its figures showed that there were 52,000 new loans granted to home buyers, 19% more than in May and up 14% on the same month a year ago.

The CML said activity was “still on an upward trajectory” and described [...]

House price inflation eases again, says Nationwide

UK house prices inflation in the UK continued to ease off in July, the Nationwide building society has said.
Its latest monthly survey shows that prices fell by 0.5% this month, taking the annual rate of house price inflation down from 8.7% to 6.6%.

The price of the average home is now £169,347, almost the same as [...]

Pensioners use home equity to release funds

Whilst UK homeowners increased the value of their stakes in their properties by £3.2bn home equity releases by pensioners were used to fund debts.A recent survey by Age UK suggested that equity withdrawal was still being used by some sections of society as a last resort to pay off debts, or to find money when [...]

Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks error hits mortgage repayment borrowers

Thousands of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank customers face increased mortgage payments after a miscalculation error.
About 18,000 variable and tracker rate customers are being contacted about the changes, believed to range from less than £25 to hundreds of pounds a month.

The banks, which are both owned by National Australia Bank, said the error was [...]

UK mortgage lending increased in June- Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)

UK gross mortgage lending, which includes lending to people remortgaging as well as house buyers, rose by 15% in June to £13.1bn.
This was 7% higher than a year ago and also the biggest monthly figure so far this year.

However, the CML said June’s increase was just a seasonal pick-up and that lending remained subdued.

“There are [...]

More affordable loans lift UK mortgage borrowing

The number of loans made for house purchases rose slightly in the UK in May as low interest rates continued, lenders have said.
About 42,000 home loans were granted in May, up 2% on the previous month and 15% higher than May 2009, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

Mortgage interest payments accounted for the lowest [...]

Fears for mortgage rate awareness

Three quarters of mortgage holders do not know how an increase in interest rates of one percentage point would affect their budget.
Some do not know what type of mortgage they have or even when it expires, a poll has found.

The survey of 2,262 people was conducted for an education group, the Consumer Financial Education Body.

The [...]

Exhorbitant mortgage arrangement fees- at long last some good news

After several years some UK mortgage lenders are starting to become a bit more competitive with more sensible arrangement fees.
Last week, for example, we had First Direct lowering its mortgage arrangement fees to just £99; which compares remarkably favourably to an industry average of nearly £1,000.

The unprecedented rise in arrangement and other mortgage fees has [...]

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