- Tuesday, June 3, 2008, 9:57
- Personal Finance
No matter how tired you are of being endlessly broke, watching your mortgage repayments rise, and having to continuously put off getting the kitchen re-done because you just plain can’t afford it (not to mention those Gucci sling-backs that gave you the backside of a 16 year old), you’ve got to ask yourself: Is the credit crunch making it chic to be cheap?
How many times in ...
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- Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 11:35
- Mortgages
There are high hopes that the Chancellor’s intervention by way of a £50 billion mortgage bailout will help to re-stabilise financial markets and bring about the end of the beginning of the UK credit crunch.
Yesterday the Bank of England unveiled a £50 billion scheme designed to restore confidence into the ailing mortgage market. The plan, announced by the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, will allow banks to ...
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- Friday, April 4, 2008, 16:46
- Mortgages
Each month I put together a short summary of the best mortgage products currently available from UK mortgage lenders. After reviewing this month’s best-buys, I am taken aback by how noticeably the trickle-down effect of international market turmoil is revealing itself. The mortgage market is visibly shrinking. Over the past two weeks three of the UK’s biggest mortgage players, Nationwide, NatWest and the Norwich & Peterborough Building ...
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- Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 17:25
- Mortgages, Personal Finance
First Direct has closed its doors to new mortgage business, fuelling growing concern that increasing borrowing costs are fast becoming unaffordable for first time buyers.
First Direct has announced that they are presently experiencing an influx of mortgage applications that have caused a massive backlog. Until the backlog has been cleared, they will not be accepting new applications. The move was announced as an alternative to ...
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- Friday, March 28, 2008, 18:51
- Mortgages
Nationwide this week released a report showing that UK house prices are rising at the slowest rate for twelve years. Typical house prices have fallen to an average of £179,100 – a drop of 0.6%. These findings are providing yet more evidence that the UK housing market is heading for a ‘sharp correction’, as happened last year in the US with the collapse of the ...
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- Wednesday, March 5, 2008, 12:30
- Mortgages
Product - Market Harborough BS 2-year fixed rate mortgage
Description - 2 year fixed rate of 4.25%, reverting to variable rate (currently 7.30%). Overall cost for comparison 6.9% APR. Maximum LTV* 75%. Arrangement fee £595; ERC** payable during first 5 years; exit fee payable on completion.
Consider it because - Attractive discount rate for the first 2 years and good overall cost for comparison. Very good for ...
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If you were to take a snapshot of UK consumer finances at the moment, you’d be excused for feeling less than chipper. The Centre for Policy studies has recently published a report that shows that the total cost of running an average home (with mortgage) rose from £9,837 during 2006, to £11,780 during 2007. This equates to a rise of almost 20% - almost double ...
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- Thursday, February 7, 2008, 13:49
- Loans, Mortgages, Personal Finance
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has voted to reduce interest rates to 5.25% this morning. The second rate drop in three months, today's vote was in response to growing evidence of an economic downturn, combined with the increasing risk of inflation in the coming months as global financial markets face further uncertainty and borrowing conditions for consumers and businesses tighten. Higher energy and ...
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- Wednesday, February 6, 2008, 13:39
- Credit Cards
Thousands of Egg credit card customers have had their credit cards cancelled following an extensive one-off credit review. Egg wrote to around 160,000 customers last week, informing them that their Egg credit cards were being cancelled. Affected customers will no longer have access to credit through Egg, but are able to continue repaying their debts as usual.
Egg, owned by Citibank, claims the move was in ...
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- Friday, February 1, 2008, 13:49
- Mortgages
Much press attention has been given over recent months to the predicted remortgage repayment shocks for homeowners due to complete their cheap fixed-rate interest mortgage deals. The average consumer approaching the end of their introductory period is expected to feel increased pressure on their finances due to the interest rate rises of the past 18 months; despite December’s drop, interest rates are still such that ...
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