Halifax has just announced the eighth cut in their mortgage rates this year, with almost half of their mortgage products having their interest rates reduced by up to 0.15 percent.
A typical example is the Halifax 5 year fixed rate mortgage which comes down from a 6.49 percent interest rate to 6.34 percent. The Halifax has also cut fees on some of its products, with the recently introduced stepped tracker mortgage having GBP200 cut off the fee.
The mortgage market is seeing all manner of fluctuations right now, with the base rate and general economic climate leading mortgage providers to look at different ways to get customers on board. The Halifax is doing what it can by cutting rates and fees where they can and are hopeful that demand will increase on the back of them.
Abbey National mortgage customers facing difficulties on the back of the credit crunch are being asked to consider taking in lodgers to make ends meet.
Across the country there are currently over 18 million households with an unused bedroom that could be offered out for rent. The average rental price paid for a bedroom in a house is just under GBP290 per month according the Abbey National figures and represents extra money that the homeowner could find very useful.
Anyone considering this option should ensure the terms of the mortgage are not being breached in any way and also that any insurance cover is still valid for the homeowners property. Abbey National expect there to be few problems but ask homeowners to check before going ahead.
Customers taking an Alliance and Leicester mortgage through a broker are going to find the process is much faster than it used to be thanks to the introduction of ifax.
This new system transforms faxes sent by brokers into emails that are therefore much easier to read and go straight to the relevant persons inbox rather than hanging around the office. An Alliance and Leicester spokeswoman supported the move and confirmed that the new ifax system would greatly increase processing speed and reduce errors.
The system can work for pretty much all the relevant documents so at each step of the way Alliance and Leicester mortgage customers will see a speedy turnround on their paperwork. The system will also be of great benefit to the intermediaries too of course.