The Woolwich have responded to criticism around their stepped tracker rate which with a current headline rate of 1.98% is one of the lowest rates available in the market. I commented on the fact that the product was restricted to mortgages between 200K and 500K severely limiting its market when I announced the new rate here a couple of weeks ago, theses restrictions have now been removed and the rate is available for loans between 5K and 1 Million now from today.

They have not chosen to address however the lengthy tie in for five years with a 2% early repayment charge which could make the product very costly in the long term.

Instead they have released a new lifetime tracker at bank base rate +2.29% with a £999 application fee available up to 70% loan to value or at +2.69% with no fee again to 70% loan to value. The new products have early repayment charges of 1% for 2 Years making them much more favourable but crucially both allow you to switch to a later fix without penalty too.

Both products would have a valuation fee of £295 for a purchase at 70% loan to value with a mortgage of 100K and lender Conveyancing fee of £126 giving an APR of 2.9% and 3.3% respectively.

As usual always read the separate Key Facts Illustration prior to making a decision on a mortgage product and to speak to a mortgage advisor call 0845 4594490.

Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debt secured on it. We do not usually charge a fee for mortgage advice although you do have the option to pay up to 1.5% of the loan amount. Some buy to let and commercial loans are not regulated by the Financial Services Authority.