With an increase in life expectancy, later first mortgages and important changes to the rules on retirement you would expect changes in the provision of mortgages. The mature borrower may still find it hard to get a mortgage when they reach their mid 40′s. Note to mortgage providers people in their 40′s are not old [...]
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Top 10 Tips for Getting Your First Mortgage
Getting a mortgage is not easy in the current climate of expensive prices and uncertainties surround the housing market and mortgage industry. These are some suggestions for getting your first mortgage. 1. Don’t worry about Short Term Volatility One current problem with the housing market is its volatility and uncertainty. When buying a house thing [...]
Pros and Cons of a Repayment Mortgage
What is a Repayment Mortgage All mortgages need to be repaid so is a ‘repayment mortgage’ a tautology? Well it can be tortuous but repaying your mortgage with interest on a regular basis is what these mortgages are all about. The alternative ‘Interest only mortgage’ only defers the evil day. As the name implies [...]
Forbearance Elephant in the Room?
Mortgage arrears are painful for both borrowers and lenders. Forbearance has been developed by lenders almost into a product or range of actions to ameliorate these situations. Forbearance is a form of holding back’, a tolerance of the situation without taking further action. In a contract with mortgage arrears it is having patience, abstaining or [...]
Mortgage Insurance Types and Cover
Insurance is a form of protection created by spreading risk. So you insure your car against accidents or your assets against theft and damage. When linked to debt or mortgage there are several types of ‘mortgage’ insurance policy to consider. Types of Mortgage Insurance Mortgage insurance also known as mortgage indemnity guaranty is an insurance [...]
Release Equity from Your Property
The downturn in the housing market has affected the sale of equity release schemes. Lenders are far more conservative on property values. The life expectancy continues to increase as mortality rates drop. This means less money is available and the schemes look less attractive. The Alternatives to Equity Release. Sell and move into rented accommodation. [...]
90% Mortgages
The MPC are nicely split about the future of interest rates in the UK. You can make a reasonable case for both raising rates and keeping them low. It depends which factors you give most weight to. But, one thing worth bearing in mind, is that monetary policy is historically very loose. If not in [...]
Negative Equity Mortgages
In June of this year, the Bank of England estimated that 1.1 million homeowners were facing a situation of negative equity. – A situation where the outstanding mortgage is greater than the value of the house. So many face negative equity because of a rapid fall in house prices and the fact many mortgages were [...]
2 Year Mortgage Fixed Rates
The fall in base interest rates to 0.5% has yet to be reflected in fixed rate mortgages. Despite continued base rates of 0.5%, commercial banks are already raising their fixed rate mortgages. Commercial banks have been claiming that the cost of borrowing is going up for them. However, looking at the three month libor (interbank [...]
Paying Off Mortgage
Given the very low interest rates, now is a good time to be making extra mortgage payments in order to pay off outstanding capital. Especially, in the early years of a mortgages, the mortgage payments are mostly weighted towards interest payments. Only a small % is dedicated to paying off the actual loan. This means [...]
