Mortgage Strategy
14 November 2011
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23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism
14 November 2011
Free market dogma has dominated western economies since the 1980s and came to a spectacular end in 2008.
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60 seconds with...Vanessa Owen
14 November 2011
Head of equity release, LV=
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Aldermore broadens its distribution of 100% family guarantee mortgage
14 November 2011
Aldermore’s 100% LTV mortgage product is now available to most brokers as the lender has expanded its distribution following a successful pilot.
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All we have to do now is charm consumers
14 November 2011
There are a number of reasons to be positive about the mortgage market at the moment, although you have to look hard to find them.
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ASA shows its social media teeth by banning estate agent's tweets
14 November 2011
The Advertising Standards Authority is starting to flex its muscles against companies advertising on Twitter.
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B2L growth continues as lending hits three-year high
14 November 2011
Buy-to-let lending has climbed to its highest level in almost three years, figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders have revealed.
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Barclays struggles with service after hiking its B2L LTV
14 November 2011
Barclays has confirmed it has run into service problems for buy-to-let cases just nine days after launching a range of 75% LTV deals.
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Brokers can access IntelliFlo system
14 November 2011
IntelliFlo has launched a dedicated version of its Intelligent Office system for brokers and knocked £25 off the cost of using it.
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Caption Competition
14 November 2011
Leeds Building Society staff assist with the Harvest Festival at St George’s Crypt
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Caption Competition: Last Week's Winner
14 November 2011
“Stocko celebrates doing a Marathon in two minutes, Snickers in one minute and Curly Wurly in 46 seconds - and that was just his warm-up.”
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Crisis doesn't alter need for reform
14 November 2011
Economic uncertainty has not stifled the need for regulatory reform of the financial markets, says Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the Treasury.
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Dispel the myth that best deals are online
14 November 2011
It’s been said many times since the credit crunch and it still rings true consumers need advice now more than ever.
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Dragonfly sets sights on acquiring bridging firm
14 November 2011
Dragonfly Property Finance has revealed it is on the acquisition trail and is carrying out due diligence on a bridging firm.
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FirstBuy builders push own brokers on clients
14 November 2011
Concerns are growing that house builders are breaching FirstBuy guidelines by forcing borrowers to choose from a restricted panel of brokers.
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Flying high
14 November 2011
Jonathan Samuels, chief executive officer of Dragonfly Property Finance, has led the business from strength to strength and sees snapping up competitors as essential on its flight to success
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Focus on customers in regulation debate
14 November 2011
Amid the debate on the European mortgage directive we need to remain focussed on what matters most customers.
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Forbearance and low base rate have helped repossessions fall, says CML
14 November 2011
A record low base rate and increased forbearance from lenders are behind a year-on-year fall in repossessions, say industry experts.
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Higginson takes the helm at network
14 November 2011
Sesame Bankhall Group has promoted chief operating officer George Higginson to the position of chief executive.
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Just like Sherlock Holmes we must mind the details
14 November 2011
In A Case Of Identity Sherlock Holmes told Dr Watson that “The little details are by far the most important”.
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Lenders' funding fears see LIBOR rocket to 1%
14 November 2011
Three-month LIBOR last week rose to 1% for the first time since July 2009 as lenders’ funding and liquidity fears deepened on the back of the eurozone crisis.
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Lloyds grows lending and direct sales in Q3
14 November 2011
Lloyds Banking Group boosted its mortgage lending by 14% in Q3 and saw an increase in the number of mortgages sold direct.
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Look to coffee shops for branding tricks
14 November 2011
One of the consumer trends of recent years has been the rise of the coffee shop, which students of history sometimes compare with the Lyons Corner House phenomenon of the early 20th century.
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Marketwatch
14 November 2011
Swaps had a mixed week with shorter-term swaps increasing more sharply than I can remember. Three-month LIBOR is up 0.02% to 1%.
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Mortgage Brain still has acquisitions on its mind
14 November 2011
Mortgage Brain says its unsuccessful attempt to buy TrigoldCrystal earlier in the year has not dampened its plans to acquire other firms.
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MS Leader: Back B2L - it's the only hope
14 November 2011
At a recent round table by Crown Mortgage Management, the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ former director-general Michael Coogan quipped that one of the only bright spots in the market was buy-to-let.
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Newlife offers first residential deal for clients over 40
14 November 2011
Newlife has launched its first residential mortgage product as it kickstarts plans to offer a range of mortgages alongside its equity release offering.
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Optimism for Q4 business drops
14 November 2011
One in three mortgage brokers expect to write more business in Q4 than they did in Q3, research by Charterhouse reveals.
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Perils of B2L deals from new lenders
14 November 2011
The entry of small building societies and others into buy-to-let has not gone unnoticed by the old stalwarts. Broadly the competition has been welcomed but it is a worry that there is so little innovation.
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Portal for gathering data saves you time
14 November 2011
I spent most of last week in the north meeting firms to discuss the IT systems that support their businesses or in some cases, the lack of systems.
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Positive thinking can help beat the market
14 November 2011
Many of you will know that I have been modestly working on a new global financial model recently.
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Property firm offers alternative to 100% LTV mortgage
17 Nov 2011
Property firm the Gentoo Group has launched a product allowing people to buy a property without a deposit or mortgage.
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Protect your clients from winter blues
14 November 2011
With fuel prices a growing concern for many, a number of people are delaying turning up the heating, preferring instead to put on an extra layer to keep warm and cut costs.
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Rent rises slow in October but arrears increase
18 Nov 2011
Rents hit a new high of £720 per month in October, but the pace of growth slowed to its lowest level since February, according to LSL Property Services’ latest buy-to-let index.
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Resilient market shows little change
14 November 2011
House prices increased 1.2% between September and October to reach an average of £163,311, according to the latest Halifax house price index.
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The Mortgage Mole
14 November 2011
Running battle Witnesses report that there was a titanic battle of wills at the New York Marathon on November 6 as Nigel Stockton, financial services director at Countrywide, battled to beat his boss Grenville Turner, the chief executive.
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Trying to put a roof over everyone's heads
14 November 2011
It’s no secret that the UK has a housing shortage. Earlier this year, the Institute for Public Policy Research estimated that England alone would face a shortfall of 750,000 homes by 2025. Rising birth rates, divorce, greater life expectancy and immigration have all contributed to higher demand for houses, and not least in the area of affordable housing.
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Unemployment hits highest levels since 1994
16 Nov 2011
Unemployment has hit its highest level since 1994, rising by 129,000 between July and September 2011 to 2.62m, Office for National Statistics data shows.
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Valuations are up 61% year-on-year
14 November 2011
The number of residential valuations conducted in October rose 61% compared with the same period last year, according to Connells Survey and Valuation’s latest housing market activity report.
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Virgin Money buys Northern Rock
17 Nov 2011
Northern Rock has been sold to Richard Branson’s Virgin Money in a deal worth £747m, which could rise to more than £1bn.
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Virgin vultures snap up Northern Rock bargain
17 Nov 2011
So now we know that the Northern Rock bailout has cost taxpayers between £350m and £650m after Virgin Money snapped up the failed bank.
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We need to consider total complaints firms receive
14 November 2011
The writer of the Star Letter in the October 31 issue of Mortgage Strategy, ’Reporting of complaints can often be misleading’, has perhaps been misled himself.
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Week in numbers
14 November 2011
£1.9 trillion The size of Italy’s debt as servicing costs raced above 7% on the back of market turmoil last week.
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With job interviews never believe it'll be alright on the night
14 November 2011
Over 13 years of dealing with that most unpredictable creature, the human being, there will naturally be moments that would be called bloopers if they had been captured on film. And when people are attempting to get a job they seem to be particularly susceptible to them.
