One-tenth of homebuyers in the UK who purchased their home from an estate agent felt pressured into arranging their mortgage via the estate agent as well, according to newly-published data from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)*.
While mortgage referrals earn lucrative commissions for estate agents, their in-house mortgage advisers typically deal with a limited panel of selected mortgage lenders.
The need to take whole of market mortgage advice with access to all mortgage products on the market has been emphasised yet again this month.
Lenders are taking action to boost the home mortgage market for first time buyers, in order to maintain the current level of house purchases when the stamp duty exemption is cut back in January.
Financial advisers can now offer 85% and even 90% mortgages that will make homebuying easier for first-timers who could not afford the 25% mortgage deposits required to access the best deals over the past year.
A remortgage is simply ending an existing mortgage deal, and switching to a different deal, with your current lender or another lender. In the current climate of low interest rates, you may well find that your mortgage lender’s standard variable rate (SVR) is better than the mortgage deal you are currently on. However, with interest [...]
For first time buyers, the light at the end of the tunnel has been switched back on, as lenders appear more open to smaller deposits for first time buyer mortgages. The number of 10%-deposit mortgage deals has risen from 89 to 105 since March, while the number of products available with a 15% mortgage deposit [...]
“Tax doesn’t have to be taxing”. YES it does. There is no nice way of putting this – it has to be paid. However there are ways in which we can avoid paying as much or reclaim what we have paid. Here are a few examples. Invest in an ISA to ensure that you do [...]
