Alliance and Leicester has announced a new tracker mortgage with a headline rate of less than 6 percent.
The new Alliance and Leicester mortgage is a two year base rate tracker with a 5.98 percent headline rate and a maximum loan to value of 75 percent. There is an arrangement fee of just under GBP1,000 and borrowers can take up to a maximum of GBP1 million.
The typical two year fixed rate mortgage rate has just gone over 7 percent so this sub 6 percent figure is certain to attract keen interest. It offers a real alternative for customers and shows them that the Alliance and Leicester are really doing what they can for customers.
The recent suggestion about the Alliance and Leicester being taken over by a larger European financial institution has been seen as both a good and bad thing by some experts.
On the one hand the Alliance and Leicester having strong financial support from a much bigger player would instil confidence in customers and probably drive more people to use them. That is a short term scenario though, with the potential longer term one being a market that has less choice.
When organisations join together there is a natural culling of duplicate products and a streamlining of the range – this would be no different with the Alliance and Leicester it has been suggested. Less choice means limited options for mortgage buyers and the likelihood that costs will ultimately be higher.
According to the Abbey National falling house prices may be an interesting opportunity for some homeowners who can see the chance to get a bigger property at a smaller price.
The figures held by Abbey National indicate somewhere in the region of 2 million homeowners are considering a move as house prices drop. Around 1.2 million of these people are hoping to trade up to a larger house, feeling they will get a relative bargain.
As a spokesman for Abbey National Mortgages reaffirmed, a market where house prices are falling is not always bad news. It creates opportunities and bargains that some people can make the most of.
