Mortgages News

Mortgage lenders have been putting up their fees to unprecedented heights with 11 raising them by up to £200 in November. The so-called "arrangement fee" for taking out a mortgage can now easily be £1,000 or more and has to be paid when the loan is taken out. Experts say one reason for this rise is the growing cost of administration since mortgages were regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in October 2004. And charging a fee upfront also enables the lender to keep d ...

Fri 8th Dec 2006 Leeds Building Society has announced that customers will be able to get a fixed-rate mortgage until December 15th 2006. The firm announced yesterday that it would be providing the opportunity to get a Leeds fixed-rate mortgage as an antidote to concerns that the Bank of England will raise the base rate early in 2007. Karen Wint, head of marketing and public relations a ...

Thu 7th Dec 2006 Due to the 1.7 per cent increase in house prices in November, homebuyers are now facing the prospect of shelling out an additional £3,500. The latest Halifax house price index has discovered that the average property price in the UK is currently £187,995, a total that is around £17,000 more expensive than in January. Reasons for the increase have been  ...

Michael Clarke, This is Money7 December 2006 NatWest has hiked its interest rate for overdrafts for the second time in the space of three months, hitting customers who get into debt this Christmas. RATE RISE: Customers will be hit in the new year WANT TO KNOW MORE? SPECIAL: End of free banking? DEAL FINDER: Current accounts GUIDES: Find a free bank account POLL: Is it fair to allow bank customers to reclaim bank fees? OTHER STORIES House prices jump £3,500 Ba ...

LONDON (AFX) - UK mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley PLC said it is set to meet analysts' expectations of a 7.3 pct increase in full-year profit, helped by continued strong lending growth on the back of a robust property market. In its final trading statement of 2006, B&B said it expects its underlying pretax profit for the year to be in line with a 332.8 mln stg consensus analyst forecast  ...

Thu 7th Dec 2006 The Leeds Building Society three-year fixed-rate mortgage has been introduced for customers seeking "peace of mind", a spokesperson has said. With an interest rate of 5.29 per cent up to and including February 28th 2010, the Leeds Building Society three-year fixed-rate mortgage enables customers to make ten per cent capital repayments per annum without incurring a penalt ...

LONDON (AFX) - The Bank of England's two interest rate hikes this year have yet to dampen home buyers' appetite, with the Halifax's latest survey showing yet another strong rise in UK house prices during November. Halifax's HBOS house price index showed a 1.7 pct monthly price rise in November to make houses 9.6 pct more expensive than a year ago. This surprised the analysts polled by AFX News, w ...

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares climbed higher in midmorning trade, firmly above the key 6,100 level, with tobacco issues leading the gainers higher on news of a bid approach for tobacco group Gallaher, and ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate decision later today, dealers said. At 10.11 am, the FTSE 100 was up 33.6 points at 6,124.0, with the broader indices mixed. Volume was fair with 60 ...

HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices closed sharply lower led by China Mobile as reports of a share sale by a major investor led to increased profit-taking in the telecoms firm in late trade, dealers said. China Mobile's slide weighed on sentiment for other mainland related stocks, while another index heavy weight HSBC fell as the market continues to fret over the bank's third-quarter update earl ...

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has taken a significant stride in its march out of a accounting scandal by completing a restatement of past earnings but still faces tough work to make its financial reporting current. The restatement for 2001 through June 30, 2004, made public on Wednesday, wiped out $6.3 billion in profit for the government-sponsored company, which finances one of ev ...