According to official from a mortgage broker group more and more people in the UK are now looking to take mortgage loans out over longer terms. The officials claim that over half of the people that came to get help in finding a mortgage product were looking for terms of at least three years.

A number of economists have predicted that the governments plan to try quantitative easing in order to boost the economy will prove successful.

Since the onset of the global credit crunch credit conditions and mortgage lending have become very restricted, and many people are finding it difficult to get a mortgage or other type of credit, which has had a severe knock on effect on many different industries.

In 2008 the UK went through a very turbulent financial period, and after ten years of relatively laid back and easy credit conditions many consumers felt the sharp shock of suddenly being unable to get their hands on affordable credit.

Many consumers in the UK have had a very difficult financial year over the past twelve months for a number of reasons. Whilst interest rates have now dropped to 3% after some drastic cuts by the Bank of England many have spent the past year trying to cope with high repayments, which has left them [...]

The effects of the global financial crisis are being reflected in the rising number of people seeking advice about their debts, according to officials from the Citizens Advice Bureau. The CAB claims that over the past year the level of enquiries relating to debt problems has soared by one third, and over the past few [...]

Both consumers and lenders have been adversely affected by the global credit crunch since it swept across the nation last summer. Lenders have found it increasingly difficult and expensive to secure finance on the wholesale money markets to fund their mortgage lending activities, and as such have had to slash the number of mortgage products [...]

The poor activity in the housing market in terms of sales has affected many different industries, such as property removal industry, property lawyers, furniture retailers, and estate agents. Over recent months there have been many concerns raised about the number of estate agencies that could end up closing down as a result of poor property [...]

According to a recent report the global credit crunch that has swept across the financial markets in the UK has resulted in a slump in lending levels in the mortgage markets, with a 17% year on year drop indicated in mortgage lending levels. In March the amount lent out in mortgage loans came to around [...]

A recent report has shown that a worrying number of lenders are failing to carry out important checks into the income of applicants that apply for unsecured finance, and there are concerns that this could lead to many people getting into unmanageable debt levels and could result in an increase in bad debt levels in [...]

Over recent months the Bank of England and the Monetary Policy Committee have faced a tough decision when it comes to setting interest rates. This is because on one hand the central bank needs to be very cautious about cutting the baste rate because of rising inflation, but on the other hand the bank needs [...]

According to a recent report some consumers may now be better off using their credit cards as a form of finance rather than opting for a personal loan because loan rates have been hiked up by huge amounts since the onset of the global credit crunch. Credit cards are well known for the high rates [...]

The Nationwide Building Society recently joined a number of other lenders who have decided to try and recoup the losses incurred by the global credit crunch by asking for a larger deposit from mortgage borrowers. In the past some consumers were able to avoid paying a deposit by taking out a 100% mortgage, and in [...]

According to a recent report the effects of the global credit crunch have gone much further than simply making it more difficult to get finance in the UK. Industry officials claim that many consumers are now committing higher levels of fraud on finance applications as a result of the credit crunch, as they think that [...]

According to a recent report banking officials have warned MPs and the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, that the cost of mortgages may continue to climb over the coming months, despite the launch of a £50 billion mortgage rescue plan introduced by the government, where banks will be able to exchange mortgage assets for government bonds for [...]

It was in the summer of last year when most of us heard the expression ‘global credit crunch’ for the first time. At that time few of us knew just what a dominating force the credit crunch would be in the world of finance, but over eight months later this phenomenon continues to wreak havoc [...]

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 [...]

A financial industry expert, who also worked as an advisor to the government, has predicted that house prices in the UK could plummet by 20% over the next couple of years, providing a gloomy outlook for homeowners. The average property price could plummet from £200,000 to just £160,000 if the predictions of Professor David Miles [...]

Recent reports have shown that the loans market continues to suffer as a result of the global credit crunch, with rates on personal loans continuing to soar despite base rate cuts, and with the number of sub-prime mortgages available on the market falling rapidly. According to industry officials the number of lenders offering sub-prime mortgages [...]