Product rates are on the up…

Over the last seven days, we’ve seen nearly every lender pull their products and, in the main, increase rates across the board. Is this a time to panic? I’m really not sure. Who can predict the future and what is around the corner?

Fixed rates on offer at the moment are very attractive and some pundits have suggested that if they increase, they may not come back down. The only way to be sure and secure a good rate is apply as soon as possible!

Another lender has reduced its maximum loan for interest-only mortgages from 75% to 50%
for certain repayment strategies. Clydesdale Bank say that where the repayment vehicle is either cash savings or downsizing, the maximum loan to value will now be a maximum of 50%
on interest only loans.

In a week of many changes, the most ‘interesting’ came from Santander who will now require customers to account for one-off costs such as Christmas and birthdays in their income and affordability assessments. Regular costs are already accounted for in assessments, but the lender now requires non-regular costs to also be disclosed. The old joking phrase of a lender requiring your shoe size and inside leg measurement, all of a sudden does not sound quite so far off…and, on the birthday thing….what if you are at the older end of the scale and have four or five grandchildren as well?

What this all demonstrates is that it is still a very tough market out there and in some cases, getting tougher. Many turn to the internet as it’s such a superb tool. However it can also be a disadvantage as so much information, news, products and detail can make it more confusing than planned. A good ‘old fashioned’ face to face conversation with your local specialist independent mortgage brokerage might be the answer. They will, in most cases, have a relationship with the lenders, understand their requirements and ensure all the correct information is submitted from day one. There really is no better time to utilise the expertise and staffing levels they can provide for you in what’s becoming an over informed and more recently, negative market place.