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Loan News For March 2007
- Twenty percent of lenders won’t offer interest only mortgages
According to recent research, around twenty percent of lenders in the UK refuse to offer customers interest only mortgages, despite the fact that borrowers can drastically cut their monthly outgoings with this type of mortgage loan. [24.03.07]
- Banks have hit consumers with four billion pounds in charges
According to the price comparison website Uswitch, banks in the UK have applied over four billion pounds worth of charges to the accounts of nearly nineteen million customers, many of whom have been taking steps to reclaim some of these charges after they were deemed unfair and unlawful by financial regulators in the UK. [23.03.07]
- Be wary when withdrawing your cash abroad
A recent consumer complaint has highlighted just how expensive it can be for UK consumers to gain access to their own cash when they go abroad. [21.03.07]
- Could mortgage rates shoot up to 8%?
The recent interest rate hikes enforced by the Bank of England have already put potential property purchasers – particularly first time buyers – in a very difficult position.
- Other methods of finance proving more popular than credit cards
Although the levels of consumer credit in the UK have been at the centre of concern for some time more and more people seeking financial assistance in the form of IVAs and even bankruptcies. [17.03.07]
- Is the UK about to be hit with yet another interest rate hike?
Potential home buyers and existing homeowners have already been hit with a number of interest rate rises enforced by the Bank of England in the space of just six months. [16.03.07]
- Nationwide may jump on account fee bandwagon
In the latest movement on banks and building societies that are planning to turn free bank accounts into fee charging ones, it seems as though Nationwide may be gearing up to jump on board.
[14.03.07]
- Figures show that IVAs could be dropping
Over recent years, many debt laden consumers in the UK have been looking at alternative ways to deal with their unmanageable debt levels. [13.03.07]
- More people reliant on one hundred percent mortgages
Recent figures have shown that more and more people have become reliant on one hundred percent mortgages over the past year, as property prices in the UK have soared, leaving many property purchasers with no other option that to opt for a mortgage loan of the same value as the property that they are buying. [09.03.07]
- Financial charity warns consumers to stay away from loan sharks
Although the government is preparing to crackdown on illegal loan sharks that pray on people that are in severe financial difficulties, it seems that many people are still turning to these lenders through sheer desperation [06.03.07]
- Lenders charging extortionate fees for lower interest mortgages
According to a recent report a number of banks and building societies are now offering a wide choice of mortgage product for consumers to select from when purchasing a property or remortgaging – but on many of these products consumers are having to pay extortionate administrative fees in order to enjoy a more competitive interest rate. [05.03.07]
- Banks still enjoying record profits despite high bad debt levels
According to recent data released by the banking industry, many of the UK's major banks are continuing to enjoy record profits despite reports that they have suffered record levels of bad debt over the past year. [03.03.07]
- Will Lloyds TSB put an end to free banking?
With a strong possibility that financial regulators in the UK will make banks reduce their charges for consumers that become overdrawn, many experts think that free banking could become a thing of the past, as banks try to recoup the losses that they are likely to make through making cuts on overdraft charges. [03.03.07]
- HBOS enjoys huge profits from 2006
HBOS, one of the UK's major banks, which was the result of a merger between Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, has announced that it enjoyed a nineteen percent rise in annual pre-tax profit in 2006 compared to 2005. The bank enjoyed pre-tax profits of £5.71 billion in 2006 compared to £4.81 billion a year earlier. [02.03.07]
- As consumer debt spirals out of control banks continue to cash in
Recent figures have shown that despite rising levels of consumer debt and record levels of bad debts, banks in the UK are continuing to cash in and make huge profits from consumers – in fact, figures indicate that banks are making almost double the amount of profit that they were making a decade ago from their customers. [02.03.07]
- Car dealership finance could prove costly
A new report has shown that as motoring enthusiasts gear themselves up for the arrival of the 2007 number plate cars, due to hit the showrooms at the end of March, many could end up wasting a small fortune by rushing into a finance deal with a car dealership rather than shopping around for a better value deal from more traditional lenders. [01.03.07]
- Nationwide raises valuation fees for different price bands
The Nationwide Building Society, the UK's largest building society, recently announced that it would be raising the cost of its valuations – but the building society seems to have done this very erratically, placing different percentage increases on different groups, and oddly hitting those paying under £200,000 for their homes and those paying over £800,000 the hardest. [01.03.07]
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