Industry News
Are Banks Treating Customers Fairly? FSA says No!
The Telegraph.co.uk is reporting that banks are not ‘treating customers fairly’ regarding Mortgage arrears. The FSA has issued letters to the ‘offending’ lenders that are showing ‘weaknesses in arrears and repossession handling’, especially to those banks that specialise in grant mortgages to borrowers with poor credit histories. Jon Pain, the retailing manager from the FSA [...]
First Time Buyers - Not Getting the Full Picture
New market analysis compiled by mform.co.uk has revealed that mortgage lenders are not always making their best rates available to first time buyers. With the Bank of England base rate cut, the standard variable rate has come down, however lenders are denying access to the better rates for new mortgage products.
Typically, the SVR deals acted as default [...]
News in the Wake of the Base Rate Cut
Ever since the Bank of England dropped the base rate 1.5%, there has been a plethora of news in the mortgage and finance industry. Here is a quick list of some of the top stories we’ve recently come across:
B&B chair Pym tells MPs buy-to-let market “now closed” - MoneyMarketing
Shareholders approve Lloyds takeover of HBOS - [...]
House Prices to Recover in 2013
BBC.co.uk is reporting that house prices won’t get back to where they peaked in 2007 until 2013. The source of their information, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), is also predicting prices will fall another 25% by the end of 2009 and then level off.
If this forecast is correct, this means that we [...]
Mortgage Fraud Double in Last Year!
IFAonline.co.uk is reporting today, that Mortgage Fraud has increased 100% in the last year as a result of increased cases of identity theft and the lax lending criteria of recent years.
Some interesting stats:
The amount of funds paid out to lenders on fraudulent purchases rose from £2m in 2006/2007 to £4m in 2007/2008.
Up to 60,000 UK properties [...]