Effective from 16 May the Nationwide Building Society will have reduced interest rates on both two year and five year fixed rate mortgages.
The two year fixed rate mortgage will have a new rate of 5.95 percent with just a GBP599 arrangement fee. There is also a fee-free Nationwide Building Society two year foxed rate mortgage that will be available at 6.35 percent. These rates are for people moving house but there is also a remortgage offer, with rates of 6.15 and 6.55 percent respectively for the same mortgage offers as above.
The longer five year fixed rate mortgage can be had at 5.85 percent for house purchasers, again with a GBP599 fee, while the remortgage option is 5.95 percent. Customers coming to the Nationwide Building Society to change mortgage from a different company are also entitled to a special offer on a five year fixed rate mortgage, with no fee, at 5.95 percent.
In the future customers taking out an Alliance and Leicester mortgage will find a range of interest rates on offer depending on the amount of money they are putting down as a deposit.
Last week the Alliance and Leicester introduced their new stance on mortgages, with a maximum of 90 percent loan to value available. However they also introduced a lower rate when the customer can put down a 25 percent deposit, basically making it a more attractive proposition for the borrower and at the same time reducing their own risk exposure.
It has been argued that the 100 percent mortgages did a lot to create the housing market price increases, since people could simply borrow whatever was needed, without having to put down any of their own money. Those days are gone it seems, so the Alliance and Leicester stance may well be repeated by other lenders over the coming weeks.
New mortgage customers at the Halifax will have to pay a little more for their home loans from today if they are taking out a tracker or fixed rate mortgage product.
The Halifax tracker mortgage rate goes up to 6.29 percent from 5.99, which is 1.29 percent above the base rate set by the Bank of England. Meanwhile the three year fixed rate mortgage offer rises to 6.44 percent, up from 6.22. A Halifax spokesman clarified that the increases will apply to just 5 of the 32 different tracker mortgages they offer and 19 of the 31 different fixed rate mortgages provided.
In that context then there are still many opportunities to avoid paying the extra interest, though of course the Halifax mortgage products that have been selected are the ones that will be the most popular.