Mortgage Strategy
Online - September 2011
-
£40bn worth of mortgages in the pipeline, says FSA
13 Sep 2011
Lenders have agreed to advance £40bn worth of mortgages in the coming months, up 13% on the amount agreed in Q1, according to the Financial Services Authority’s latest mortgage lending data.
-
Abbey cuts fixed rates by up to 1.10%
15 Sep 2011
Abbey for Intermediaries is cutting rates on a range of its two, three, four and five-year fixed mortgage products by up to 1.10%.
-
Abbey cuts rates by up to 1%
5 Sep 2011
Abbey for Intermediaries has launched a new range of three, four and five-year fixed mortgage products and reduced rates by up to 1% across its range.
-
Abbey launches five-year fix at 3.99%
8 Sep 2011
Abbey for Intermediaries is launching a five-year fixed rate mortgage with a rate of 3.99% and a £495 fee.
-
Abbey launches three-year fix for existing home movers
30 Sep 2011
Abbey for Intermediaries has today launched a new Loyal Mover mortgage for existing borrowers who are moving home.
-
Abbey revamps website
12 Sep 2011
Abbey for Intermediaries has relaunched its website in a bid to make it easier for intermediaries to navigate.
-
ABI concern that MMR could put cover at risk
23 Sep 2011
Trade body warns move to a more intensive mortgage application process under the mortgage market review could hit protection sales.
-
Accord cuts rates by up to 0.45%
2 Sep 2011
Accord Mortgages has reduced rates by up to 0.45% across its mortgage products at both 75% and 85% LTV.
-
Accord cuts rates on two-year fixes
13 Sep 2011
Accord Mortgages is cutting the rates of its two-year fixes by up to 0.20%.
-
Advertising Standards Authority rejects MAS "free advice" complaints
14 Sep 2011
The Advertising Standards Authority has rejected adviser complaints over the Money Advice Service’s controversial TV ad which claimed it offers free, independent advice.
-
Aldermore launches 100% LTV mortgage
5 Sep 2011
Aldermore has launched a Family Guarantee Mortgage, available up to 100% LTV.
-
Aldermore launches 95% LTV deal with Hitachi Capital
19 Sep 2011
Aldermore is launching a mortgage scheme for those with a 5% deposit in conjunction with Hitachi Capital.
-
ARLA calls on Shapps to regulate private rented sector
5 Sep 2011
The Association of Residential Letting Agents says it is disappointed by an announcement from housing minister Grant Shapps that he has published a series of fact sheets for tenants and landlords.
-
August gross mortgage lending up 10% year-on-year
20 Sep 2011
Gross mortgage lending totalled £13.4bn in August, up 10% on the £12.1bn advanced in August 2010, according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
-
Bank of Scotland tops mortgage complaints list
6 Sep 2011
Figures released by the Financial Ombudsman Service today reveal that the Bank of Scotland received the highest number of mortgage complaints between January and June 2011.
-
Banks’ gross mortgage lending up 5% in August
23 Sep 2011
High street banks’ gross mortgage lending totalled £8.2bn in August, up 5% on the £7.8bn lent in July, according to statistics from the British Bankers’ Association.
-
Barclays cuts fixed rates but increases trackers
27 Sep 2011
Barclays is reducing rates on a third of its Woolwich fixed rate mortgages, but is increasing rates on some of its tracker and offset deals.
-
Bath BS extends range of parent-assisted 95% LTV deals
23 Sep 2011
Bath Building Society its extending its range of parent-assisted mortgage products with the launch of two new high LTV deals.
-
Benefits reform will increase tenant arrears, says Landlord Assist
15 Sep 2011
Changes to the benefits system will increase arrears levels among social tenants and cause landlords to leave the social sector, Landlord Assist has warned.
-
BSA calls for coherent approach on repossessions
19 Sep 2011
The Building Societies Association is calling for the government, the mortgage industry and consumer groups to work together to help those at risk of repossession.
-
Buy-to-let is back - but it's not a bubble
27 Sep 2011
Last week, the British Bankers’ Association reconfirmed what most of us already know - that while demand for mortgages among owner-occupiers has slowed, among buy-to-let investors and landlords it has picked up materially.
-
Cambridge BS launches large loan mortgage up to £2m
2 Sep 2011
The Cambridge Building Society is today launching a mortgage specifically aimed at those seeking a large loan size of between £500,000 and £2m.
-
Cambridge BS launches two-year discount at 2.99%
15 Sep 2011
Cambridge Building Society is launching a two-year discounted mortgage via intermediaries.
-
Capital raising behind surge in B2L remortgaging
12 Sep 2011
Landlords raising capital to finance portfolio expansion are behind a rise in buy-to-let remortgage activity, according to Paragon Mortgages.
-
CBI calls on government to launch FTB initiatives
30 Sep 2011
The chancellor should introduce a raft of measures to help first-time buyers in his autumn statement in order to kick start the housing market, according to the Confederation of British Industry.
-
Chesterton Humberts buys into Springtide Capital
14 Sep 2011
Property consultant Chesterton Humberts has agreed to acquire a significant share in Springtide Capital, a mortgage advisory firm which specialises in arranging six and seven figure mortgages.
-
Claims firms must clean up their act, says Which?
21 Sep 2011
Which? is calling on claims management firms to clean up their act after an undercover investigation by the consumer watchdog found misleading advice and unfair contract terms to be commonplace among such companies.
-
CML broker sales data is called into question
5 Sep 2011
Intermediated sales figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders have been branded misleading after it was revealed that the trade body classes some in-branch sales as broker deals.
-
CML defends UKAR’s stance on arrears
7 Sep 2011
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has defended UK Asset Resolution’s decision to contact borrowers if changes in their financial profile suggest they may be at risk of falling into arrears.
-
CML: Benefit reform will restrict lending to social landlords
22 Sep 2011
Welfare reform that will pay housing benefit directly to tenants rather than landlords is likely to restrict mortgage finance to social landlords, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
-
Complaints about mortgage firms at all-time high
28 Sep 2011
Data released by the Financial Services Authority today shows there were 30,014 complaints about mortgage firms in the first six months of the year, the highest number since the regulator started compiling the figures in 2006.
-
CoreLogic and Synectics launch fraud prevention tool
16 Sep 2011
CoreLogic and Synectics Solutions have teamed up to launch a scoring solution designed to identify mortgage fraud.
-
Could shared ownership be the answer for first-time buyers?
17 Sep 2011
With the news this week that rents hit another record high of £713 per month in August, renting is evidently becoming increasingly unaffordable for many, particularly in London, where average rents have now hit £1,025 per month.
-
Countrywide offers lenders low LTV business to offset high-risk lending
26 Sep 2011
Countrywide is trying to tempt lenders into offering high LTV new-build mortgages by offering to put more lower LTV business their way, in a bid to mitigate risk.
-
Do interest-only restrictions create North-South divide?
10 Sep 2011
Ever since interest-only lending came under the spotlight in the Financial Services Authority’s Mortgage Market Review consultation papers, lenders have been making changes to their interest-only criteria.
-
Dragonfly acquires Maslow Capital
5 Sep 2011
Dragonfly Property Finance has acquired specialist mezzanine lender Maslow Capital.
-
Dragonfly suspends Martin Gilsenan
9 Sep 2011
Dragonfly Property Finance has suspended its relationship manager Martin Gilsenan.
-
Economic gloom depresses August house sales
13 Sep 2011
Uncertainty surrounding the economy depressed the level of property sales in August, according to the latest UK housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
-
End of Stamp Duty holiday unlikely to boost market
27 Sep 2011
The end of the Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers in March 2012 is unlikely to result in a significant surge in transactions, according to Capital Economics.
-
Eurozone crisis to constrain mortgage lending for a year
3 Oct 2011
The crisis in the eurozone is already affecting UK mortgage lenders’ funding costs and is likely to restrain mortgage lending for the next year, according to Capital Economics.
-
Eurozone sovereign debt default gets closer
6 Sep 2011
New evidence of problems in the global economy emerge almost every day now from somewhere in the world - figures from the UK service sector today were much worse than expected by economists, many of whom seem to be pretty rubbish at predicting figures these days.
-
Falling demand will depress house prices, says Hometrack
3 Oct 2011
A shift in the balance between housing supply and demand is beginning to emerge, which is likely to push down property prices, according to Hometrack.
-
Financial services unaffected by Vertex’s private sector sale
19 Sep 2011
Vertex has confirmed that its financial services sector will be unaffected by a sell-off of its private sector business to Capita Group.
-
Fitch upgrades HML's special servicer rating
1 Sep 2011
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Homeloan Management Limited’s residential mortgage special servicer rating to RSS2- from RSS3+.
-
Former mortgage broker convicted of fraud
12 Sep 2011
A man masquerading as a mortgage broker has been convicted of fraud after pocketing a £5,000 arrangement fee from a client.
-
Former Virgin Money MD appointed new head of borro
21 Sep 2011
Online short term asset lender borro has appointed Claire Gates as its new managing director.
-
FSA approves Yorkshire and N&P merger
23 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority has confirmed that the merger of Yorkshire and Norwich & Peterborough building societies is to go ahead.
-
FSA cancels mortgage broker's permission
14 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority has cancelled the permission of Stephen Selby trading as Selby Associates in Merseyside, for failing to hand over client files to the regulator.
-
FSA cracks down on tweets
23 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority is believed to be taking a hard line on mortgage firms advertising products on Twitter.
-
FSA fines director £100,000 for mortgage fraud
30 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority has today published a decision notice, indicating that it has decided to ban and impose a fine of £100,000 on Raymond Wagner, the director of Ambergate Business Services Limited, a mortgage broker based in London.
-
FSA fines mortgage fraudster £250,000
14 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority has banned a North West London mortgage broker and fined him £250,000 for repeated mortgage fraud and deliberately misleading the FSA.
-
FSA says BoI bond buy-back falls outside its remit
20 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority has told Bank of Ireland bondholders who are protesting against a buy-back offer from the Bank for less than the bonds’ market value that it does not have the authority to intervene in the matter.
-
FSA to scrutinise DA firms’ systems and controls, says Bankhall
15 Sep 2011
Bankhall is urging adviser firms to review their systems and controls in light of the Financial Services Authority’s increasing scrutiny of this area.
-
FSA toughens up regulation of sale-and-rent-back
8 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority is planning to regulate all firms and individuals selling sale-and-rent-back agreements.
-
FTB chances higher in the North, says Halifax
26 Sep 2011
The North offers first-time buyers the best chance of getting on the housing ladder, according to research by Halifax.
-
Furness BS strengthens regional development team
12 Sep 2011
Furness Building Society has strengthened its regional development team with the aim of increasing the volume of mortgage business it does through brokers.
-
Gareth Lewis quits Tiuta
23 Sep 2011
Gareth Lewis, head of business development at Tiuta has left the firm.
-
Google's mortgage site does a disappearing act
20 Sep 2011
Google has taken down its UK mortgage comparison website while it works on relaunching a bigger and better version of the site.
-
Half A Glass…
5 Sep 2011
At a time when negative headlines dominate the economic landscape it is hard not to notice that consumer confidence has taken a battering in recent weeks.
-
Halifax revitalises brand
16 Sep 2011
Halifax is bringing back its employee-based advertising campaign as part of a revitalisation of its brand.
-
High LTVs will not help FTBs on their own
2 Sep 2011
The recent return by some lenders to the high LTV market after a long absence is a positive sign but it would be wrong to think this a done deal in resolving the problems first-time buyers continue to face.
-
Hinckley & Rugby launches fixed rate deals
15 Sep 2011
Hinckley & Rugby Building Society is launching two fixed rate mortgages from 2.59%.
-
HML accounts reveal FSA probe in 2010
12 Sep 2011
HML’s 2010 accounts show the mortgage servicer was subject to a Financial Services Authority investigation in 2010.
-
HML appoints head of unsecured lending
21 Sep 2011
HML has appointed Graham Donald to spearhead the firm’s entry into the £220bn unsecured lending market as an end-to-end loan administrator.
-
Homeowners still opting to stay on SVR
22 Sep 2011
Standard variable rate mortgages are still the preferred option for borrowers with 37% of homeowners opting to stay on their SVR, rising from 35% from January 2011.
-
House deposits increase tenfold in 20 years
19 Sep 2011
The average housing deposit has increased almost tenfold since 1990, from £6,793 to £65,924 in 2011, according to research by First Direct.
-
House prices down 1.2% in August
7 Sep 2011
House prices fell by 1.2% in August to an average of £161,743, according to the latest Halifax house price index.
-
House prices down 2.2% year-on-year in August, says LSL
9 Sep 2011
House prices increased by 0.3% in August compared to the previous month, but fell by 2.2% year-on-year, according to the latest LSL/Acadametrics House Price Index.
-
House prices down 2.6% year-on-year
28 Sep 2011
The average house price in England and Wales fell by 0.3% between July and August to reach £162,347, according to Land Registry Data.
-
House prices up 0.1% in September
29 Sep 2011
Average house prices in the UK increased by 0.1% in September to reach £166,256, Nationwide’s latest house price index shows.
-
HSBC launches 20-minute mortgage decision system
20 Sep 2011
HSBC has launched two new online mortgage services, one of which allows customers to receive a mortgage decision within 20 minutes.
-
ICB confirms ring-fence but saves Lloyds from further branch sell-off
12 Sep 2011
The Independent Commission on Banking has confirmed that Britain’s banks will have to ring-fence their retail divisions from their investment arms in its final report, published today.
-
IMF cuts UK growth forecasts
20 Sep 2011
The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecasts for the UK economy, amid warnings that the global economy has entered a dangerous new phase.
-
Inflation rises to 4.5%
13 Sep 2011
The rate of Consumer Prices Index inflation rose to 4.5% in August, up from 4.4% in July, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
-
ING Direct upgrades to Omiga system
26 Sep 2011
ING Direct has upgraded to the Omiga mortgage processing software with the help of Vertex.
-
Interest rates kept on hold at 0.5%
8 Sep 2011
Interest rates have once again been kept on hold at 0.5% by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.
-
Ipswich BS launches lifelong disabilities mortgage
19 Sep 2011
Ipswich Building Society has launched a shared ownership mortgage for consumers with lifelong disabilities.
-
Just Retirement makes annuity product available through portals
29 Sep 2011
Just Retirement has made its fixed term annuity available to intermediaries on the Avelo Exchange and Assureweb portals.
-
Kensington pulls 85% BTL and 90% residential deals
21 Sep 2011
Kensington is pulling its 85% LTV buy-to-let deals and its 90% LTV residential mortgages tonight.
-
Kent Reliance to distribute through TBMC
14 Sep 2011
Kent Reliance has selected TBMC to distribute its range of buy-to-let mortgages.
-
Key Retirement Solutions teams up with Freemans
14 Sep 2011
Key Retirement Solutions has formed a partnership with mail order company Freemans Grattan Holdings.
-
L&C heads for profit this year after fall in 2010 loss
12 Sep 2011
London & Country Mortgages says it is on track to make a profit this year, after improving on its £3m loss in 2009 by over two-thirds in 2010.
-
Lancashire Mortgage Corporation launches auction product
8 Sep 2011
Lancashire Mortgage Corporation has launched a new pre-approved auction purchase product.
-
Leeds BS launches five-year fix at 4.19%
19 Sep 2011
Leeds Building Society is launching a five-year fixed rate mortgage at 4.19%.
-
Leeds BS launches five-year fix B2L deal at 4.99%
23 Sep 2011
Leeds Building Society is launching a five-year fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage with a rate of 4.99%.
-
Liz Locke leaves Omni for One Hyde Park
7 Oct 2011
Liz Locke, business development director at Omni Capital, is leaving the bridging lender to join the Candy & Candy core sales team at One Hyde Park.
-
Lloyds' national accounts head quits
29 Sep 2011
Maria Harris, head of national accounts at Lloyds Banking Group, is leaving the company following a re-organisation.
-
Management reshuffle at Mortgage Talk
9 Sep 2011
Mortgage Talk has announced a restructure of its management team, with managing director Andrew Frankish becoming commercial director.
-
MEP calls for internationally consistent mortgage regulation
15 Sep 2011
Regulatory reform of the mortgage sector needs to be consistent internationally as well as within Europe, according to the MEP who called for a 14-day cooling off period for mortgages.
-
Mike Allison joins Paradigm Mortgage Services
30 Sep 2011
Mike Allison, former managing director of Personal Touch Financial Services, has joined Paradigm Mortgage Services as its partnership development manager.
-
Mitchell Farrar defends claims firms
16 Sep 2011
Not all claims management firms are rogue traders, Mitchell Farrar is arguing.
-
Monmouthshire BS increases gross mortgage lending by 17%
7 Sep 2011
Monmouthshire Building Society has increased its gross mortgage lending by 17%, its annual results show.
-
More landlords investing in family-sized property
6 Sep 2011
The number of landlords investing in family-sized property increased significantly in Q3 2011, research from Paragon shows.
-
Mortgage approvals reach 15-month high in August
9 Sep 2011
Mortgage approvals for purchase hit a 15-month high in August, according to the latest e.surv mortgage monitor.
-
Mortgage product numbers up marginally in August
6 Sep 2011
The number of mortgage products available to intermediaries increased by 2% in August, taking the rise in product numbers over the past six months up to 40%.
-
Mortgage Strategy e-petition gains over 100 signatures
22 Sep 2011
Mortgage Strategy’s e-petition has gained over 100 signatures in just three days.
-
Mortgage Talk teams up with Complete
7 Sep 2011
Mortgage Talk has formed a strategic relationship with Complete in order to improve its access to a wider range of mortgage products.
-
MPC voted unanimously to keep interest rates on hold
21 Sep 2011
All nine members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5% in September, the latest minutes show.
-
Mutuals’ gross mortgage lending up 8% year-on-year
29 Sep 2011
Gross mortgage lending by mutuals totalled £2.1bn in August, an 8% increase on the £2.0bn advanced in August 2010, according to figures from the Building Societies Association.
-
Nationwide bans interest-only for shared equity mortgages
1 Sep 2011
Nationwide will no longer lend on an interest-only basis for shared equity mortgages as part of a number of changes to its shared equity criteria.
-
NBNK on track for Lloyds bid
26 Sep 2011
NBNK is on track for its bid for the 632 Lloyds Banking Group branches currently up for sale, its interim results for the first half of 2011 reveal.
-
New banking venture eyes NAB brands before Lloyds move
6 Sep 2011
Banking venture set up by Lord Levene and Lord McFall suspends shares due to speculation.
-
Next Intelligence launches protection panel for DA firms
19 Sep 2011
Next Intelligence is launching a life protection panel specifically designed for the directly authorised market.
-
Northern Rock launches broker exclusives from 2.59%
6 Sep 2011
Northern Rock is launching a range of mortgage products available exclusively via intermediaries, with rates as low as 2.59%.
-
Northern Rock overhauls mortgage product offering
26 Sep 2011
Northern Rock has refreshed its mortgage product offering, withdrawing and reducing rates on a select number of existing deals as well as launching new products.
-
OFT consults on draft guidance for estate agents
19 Sep 2011
The Office of Fair Trading has today launched a consultation on draft guidance to estate agents and property developers which aims to help firms comply with the law.
-
Openwork reports £8.5m loss for 2010
28 Sep 2011
Openwork made a pre-tax loss of £8.5m in 2010, compared to a loss of £5.6m in 2009, its annual accounts reveal.
-
Personal Touch Financial Services reports £2.3m pre-tax profit
26 Sep 2011
Personal Touch Financial Services has reported a pre-tax profit of £2.3m for 2010, compared with £2.6m in 2009.
-
Pink relaunches DA club
26 Sep 2011
Pink is relaunching its club for directly authorised advisers, the Pink Club.
-
Platform launches new buy-to-let and residential deals
22 Sep 2011
Platform has launched a new range of buy-to-let mortgages and a new range of 80% and 85% LTV residential deals.
-
Post Office withdraws from buy-to-let market
21 Sep 2011
The Post Office has withdrawn its entire range of buy-to-let mortgages.
-
Precise cuts rates on near-prime mortgage range
13 Sep 2011
Precise Mortgages has reduced the rates on all of the products within its range of near-prime mortgages.
-
PTFS launches client risk profiler
6 Oct 2011
Personal Touch Financial Services has launched a new risk profiler - an online, end-to-end client risk profiling system.
-
RBS, HSBC and Barclays under fire in US lawsuit
5 Sep 2011
The Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays are among the 17 banks being sued by a US regulator for their role in the sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities.http://cms.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/CMS/commentEdit.aspx?label=comment&id=57927&KeepThis=true&modal=true&TB_iframe=true&width=650&height=500#
-
Redundancies at Y3S
7 Sep 2011
Specialist broker Y3S Group is making a number of redundancies in its life insurance department.
-
Redundancies on the cards as xit2 closes office
6 Sep 2011
Xit2 is believed to be making a number of its staff redundant following the closure of its head office in Charlbury.
-
Remortgage activity drives rise in August valuations
8 Sep 2011
The number of valuations conducted in August was 49% higher than in August 2010 thanks to an increase in remortgage activity, according to Connells Survey and Valuation.
-
Remortgage activity up 10% in August
29 Sep 2011
The number of loan approvals secured on property increased by 6.2% in August to reach 108,163, according to data from the Bank of England.
-
Remortgaging up 11% year-on-year in July
12 Sep 2011
Remortgage lending in July was up 11% both by volume and value compared to the same month last year, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows.
-
Rents and tenant arrears rise in August
16 Sep 2011
Rents registered their largest monthly increase in a year in August, rising by 1.2% to an average of £713 per month, according to the latest buy-to-let index from LSL Property Services.
-
S&P under threat of legal action over bond ratings
27 Sep 2011
Securities and Exchange Commission investigating S&P’s role in financial crisis.
-
S&P upgrades HML
13 Sep 2011
HML, has been awarded an upgrade to Above Average for its special servicing by Standard & Poor’s, which means no other UK servicer holds a higher rating for primary or special mortgage servicing.
-
Saffron BS cuts rate on 95% LTV deal
15 Sep 2011
Saffron Building Society is reducing the rate on its 95% LTV first-time buyer mortgage from 6.49% to 5.79%.
-
Santander issues £2.5bn securitisation
14 Sep 2011
Santander has issued a residential mortgage-backed security deal worth £2.5bn.
-
Scarce supply making rural property unaffordable, says Hometrack
26 Sep 2011
A shortage of supply combined with increasing demand is making property unaffordable for first-time buyers in rural areas, according to Hometrack.
-
Select & Protect reduces MPPI rates by 20%
8 Sep 2011
Select & Protect has reduced rates on its mortgage payment protection product by 20%.
-
September for-sale listings down 14% year-on-year
30 Sep 2011
The number of new for-sale listings in September fell by 7.6% compared to August and by 14.2% compared to September 2010, according to the latest Agency Express Property Activity Index.
-
Sesame adds Paragon and Mortgage Trust to its lender panel
23 Sep 2011
Sesame has added the Paragon Group of Companies to its mortgage panel.
-
Sesame Bankhall teams up with Connells
13 Sep 2011
Sesame Bankhall Group has entered into a long-term partnership with Connells involving a range of services including protection for Connells’ 450 mortgage consultants operating across its UK estate agency offices.
-
SFO probes UK securitisation deals
6 Sep 2011
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating potentially fraudulent sales of mortgage-backed securities in the UK in the run up to the financial crisis.
-
Skipton launches 95% LTV new-build mortgage
26 Sep 2011
Skipton Building Society has teamed up with its estate agency subsidiary Connells Group to offer a 95% LTV mortgage for new-build properties.
-
Skipton launches five-year B2L fix at 4.89%
7 Sep 2011
Skipton Building Society is launching a five-year fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage at 4.89%.
-
Staff in consultation at GE Money Home Lending
27 Sep 2011
An undisclosed number of staff have been placed into consultation at GE Money Home Lending.
-
State Bank of India will offer deals via brokers
26 Sep 2011
State Bank of India plans to launch a range of buy-to-let and residential mortgages in the UK through brokers next year.
-
Swift fined by FSA and ordered to pay £2.35m redress
8 Sep 2011
The Financial Services Authority has fined Essex based mortgage lender Swift 1st Limited £630,000 for unfair treatment of some customers facing mortgage arrears.
-
Teachers Building Society launches broker portal
14 Sep 2011
Teachers Building Society has launched a new online portal for intermediaries.
-
The 100% mortgage - friend or foe?
5 Sep 2011
It was only a matter of time before a lender took the plunge and started to offer a 100% LTV mortgage again.
-
The Vickers Report and the mortgage market
12 Sep 2011
There is naturally a major focus in the media today on the Vickers Report but it is important to recognise that the proposals, which the chancellor George Osborne has already accepted, don’t have to be fully implemented until 2019, the same deadline as for the previously announced Basel 3 regulatory changes.
-
Third of brokers expect business levels to rise in Q4
20 Sep 2011
A third of mortgage brokers believe business levels will increase during Q4 of this year, according to research from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association.
-
Third of brokers want more lenders to offer large loans
29 Sep 2011
Over a third, 35%, of intermediaries believe not enough lenders offer mortgages for more than £500,000, research by Kensington reveals.
-
Third of landlords see rise in rental income in Q3
28 Sep 2011
Over a third of landlords, 34%, increased rent levels across their portfolio in Q3, up from 29% in Q2, according to research from Paragon.
-
Tight housing supply will keep UK prices stable, says Moody’s
19 Sep 2011
Low housing supply will help keep property prices stable in the UK and therefore have a positive credit impact on residential mortgage-backed securities, according to Moody’s.
-
Tight wholesale funding is restricting lending, says Bank
28 Sep 2011
Lenders say that the cost and availability of funding is weighing down on credit availability, the Bank of England’s Credit Conditions Survey for Q3 reveals.
-
Time to ditch the jargon
27 Sep 2011
American author Mark Twain has been credited with saying “I wanted to write you a short letter but I didn’t have the time”.
-
Treasury and FSA set to clash over Northern Rock bid
29 Sep 2011
The Treasury and the FSA are ready to clash over a proposal to allow bidders for Northern Rock’s “good” bank to take about £500m out of the lender.
-
Tribunal upholds OFT's decision to revoke JST Financial Solution's licence
21 Sep 2011
A tribunal has upheld the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to revoke the licence of JST Financial Solutions because the company allowed a convicted fraudster to become involved in its business.
-
Unemployment rises by 80,000
14 Sep 2011
The total number of unemployed people increased by 80,000 in the three months to July to reach 2.51 million - the largest quarterly increase in unemployment since the three months to August 2009.
-
US banks to be sued over mortgage bonds
2 Sep 2011
A dozen big banks in the US are set to be sued for allegedly misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities sold at the height of the housing boom.
-
V Loans offering adverse secured loan
27 Sep 2011
V Loans is offering a secured loan from an unnamed lender available to borrowers with unlimited County Court Judgements and defaults.
-
Xit2 launches solicitor fraud prevention service
13 Sep 2011
Xit2 is launching a service to help lenders cut down on solicitor fraud.
-
Y3S becomes preferred partner of Omni Capital
29 Sep 2011
Omni Capital has named Y3S Bridging & Commercial as one of its preferred packager partners.
-
Yorkshire BS expands buy-to-let range
23 Sep 2011
Yorkshire Building Society is expanding its buy-to-let range in terms of both products and distribution after making a tentative launch into the market in August.
