In a six month exercise Lord Hunt of Wirral has carried out an extensive review into the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service, and based on this review he has come up with a list of over seventy recommendations that he states are designed to make the service more accessible and more affordable for consumers. Lord Hunt [...]

With many different living costs and bills rising in price over recent weeks, and with mortgage repayments still high, it is hardly surprising that so many households are struggling financially, with many unable to keep up with repayments on their bills and debts. Bills such as water, gas, electricity, and council tax have all gone [...]

The mortgage industry is in complete turmoil at the moment as the result of the global credit crunch that swept across the UK last summer. Since this time the number of mortgage approvals has plummeted, the number of mortgage products on the market has plunged by two thirds, and many consumers have been left out [...]

Over recent months there has been a great deal of speculation with regards to house price movement in the UK, and a wide range of data has pointed to the fact that house prices are falling, which could create real problems for those that have recently taken out huge mortgages on expensive properties, although it [...]

According to a recent report the well known broker, John Charcol, could be facing immense future difficulties, which could see it losing the ability to continue operating. The broker’s own auditor has warned the firm that it faces ‘material uncertainty’ over its future. This comes at a time when many lenders and brokers in the [...]

According to a recent report house prices in the UK are set to face the first annual fall since the middle of the 1990s, as experts continue to make predictions over forthcoming movement on house prices. Officials have said that house prices will fall in 2008 on an annual basis for the first time since [...]

The Bank of England announced earlier this week that the base rate was being cut by 0.25%, taking the base rate from 5.25% down to 5%. The announcement came after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Thursday, but did not come as a surprise to many industry experts who had been expecting the bank to [...]

Many people plan to make a large purchase each year, despite the fact that they may not have the funds available upfront to pay for this purchase. In the past this wasn’t too much of a problem, as most of us could enjoy pretty easy access to finance from a range of lenders, and getting [...]

Officials from the British Bankers Association have revealed that mortgage approval levels in the UK are still low, with February’s approval figures reflecting a drop of around one third compared to February of last year, although the figure was slightly higher than January of this year. Experts state that the low level of mortgage approvals [...]

The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has indicated that an April interest rate cut has become more likely as a result of the tighter credit conditions that are in place in the UK – news that will be welcomed by struggling homeowners that need to cut back on their outgoings. The governor [...]

There seems to be some confusion over just how the credit crunch is affecting building societies in the UK, with conflicting opinions from various officials within the building societies industry. When the global credit crunch took a hold it became quite apparent very quickly that the larger banks and financial institutions in the UK were [...]

There has been a huge drop in the range of mortgage deals that are available in the UK according to a recent report, which suggests that the number of different mortgage deals has dropped by two thirds since the onset of the global credit crunch. Over recent months more and more lenders have been taking [...]

A recent report indicated that many consumers with poor credit were becoming increasingly reliant upon mortgage brokers in order to find them a suitable mortgage deal, with many assuming that they will not be able to find a mortgage on their own due to their credit. Whilst it is more difficult to find a suitable [...]

All mortgages in the UK come under two main categories, which are repayment mortgages, also known as capital and interest mortgages, and interest only mortgages. With repayment mortgage the monthly repayment made by the borrower is applied to both the loan and the interest on the loan, which means that at the end of the [...]

Most homeowners have become increasingly aware of just what a valuable asset their home is over the past few years. Over recent years property prices in the UK have rocketed, and those that have owned their homes for some time have found that the value of the home has shot up compared to when they [...]

Homeowners, many of whom are already struggling to try and keep up with mortgage repayments despite the recent interest rate cuts, are facing a real struggle when it comes to coping with their finances according to a recent report, with many expecting to face difficulties in coping financially due to strained household finances. The report [...]

With many homeowners struggling financially due to rising living costs and high mortgage repayments, along with predictions that house prices could plummet over the coming year or two, many people may be thinking of selling up whilst prices are still high in order to avoid falling into negative equity. However, recent reports have shown how [...]

Since the global credit crunch took a hold in the UK in the late summer of last year, there has been growing concerns over the state of the economy. Consumers were already facing financial difficulties as the result of five interest rate rises between August 2006 and July 2007, and consumer confidence levels had already [...]

Fixed rate mortgages for short periods have become popular in the UK over recent years. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, is pushing for consumers to consider very long term fixed rate deals, such as those for 20 and 25 years in order to increase security and peace of mind. However, lenders have stated [...]

For many months now the UK has seen the mortgage sector experiencing increased difficulties, with lack of funding resulting in the inability to meet demand and increased cautiousness over who to lend to and how much business to take on.

A number of mortgage brokers have been stressing the importance of quick action to consumers, stating that in order to get a competitive mortgage they need to act quickly. These brokers claim that competitive mortgages are coming off the shelves so quickly that failure to take fast action could mean that consumers are left with [...]

According to police authority officials the level of mortgage fraud in the UK has rocketed to £700 million a year, and is an industry that is continuing to grow and attract the attention of organised criminals. This information has come from the Association of Chief Police Officers, which is calling for a specialist team to [...]

Until last year Northern Rock enjoyed a reputation as the nation’s fifth largest mortgage lender, and had enjoyed great success and an impressive reputation. However, in the summer of last year everything fell apart for the mortgage lender when it became a high profile victim of the global credit crunch. It became public knowledge that [...]

A recent survey has revealed that the Citizen’s Advice Bureau has seen a rise in the number of enquiries relating to mortgage arrears and debt related issues over the first part of this year. Money issues have always been one of the most commonly dealt with problems by the CAB, but with credit conditions tighter [...]

Many homeowners in the UK may already be harbouring concerns over falling property values, with industry professionals predicting that property prices could fall by up to 20% over the next couple of years. This could really affect those that have recently taken on huge mortgage for expensive properties, as it could mean that their home [...]

Many homeowners will have heard the Chancellor of the Exchequer addressing the issue of 20 and 25 year fixed rate mortgages lately. Alistair Darling is convinced that 25 year fixed rate deals or longer term fixed rate mortgages are the way forward in the UK, stating that their popularity abroad shows just how effective they [...]

Taking on a mortgage is a very important commitment, and for most people a mortgage is one of the larges financial commitments that they will ever make. When you are taking out such a large loan it is vital that you make sure that you choose the right product, but this is not necessarily an [...]

The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, recently announced that the central bank is injecting a total of £11 billion into the banking sector in order to try and increase liquidity, with this total being made up of £6 billion that was previously pledged and an additional £5 billion that the Bank of [...]