Welcome to the brokers blog; where we discuss the latest developments, common queries, spurious sources and the sublime, ridiculous and esoteric aspects of the mortgage industry.
Many people blame subprime mortgages for the credit crunch; others point the finger at merchant banks and hedge funds, whilst some have even suggested that China is directly at fault for the current state of Western finances.
To a certain extent, all these views carry some merit (particularly regarding the subprime mortgage sector). But another factor that comes into play regarding those mortgages; is perhaps more fundamental and likely to cause long-lasting damage.
Over the last decade and a half, the average house value skyrocketed. Some houses increased by as much as 100% in value over a decade. This rise in prices; sustained by a ready supply of credit on increasingly generous terms; increased demand massively, and due to the relatively fixed housing supply, the only place prices could go; was up.
That resulted in large numbers of people taking loans far beyond their means. It seemed that everyone could get a large enough mortgage to pay for a house regardless of their financial circumstances.
For those who have stretched their income, now is the perfect time to reduce your borrowing and save money in the long term on your mortgage repayments.
The new government and the recent emergency budget indicate we should see relatively low-interest rates for some time, although the bank base cannot remain this low forever.
So it is time to look at remortgaging, and trackers, in particular, can look like good value for money in the short term.
There are several ways to reduce your mortgage in this period of low-interest rates.
You can remortgage and reduce your mortgage term, but pay attention to how this will affect your repayments when rates do rise.
Another option is to look at offset mortgage products which allow you to pay no interest on the equivalent amount of savings held in the offset account; however, offset rates continue to be uncompetitive.
For many, the best way to reduce your mortgage may be to use a savings account and then use the typical 10% overpayment facility on most products.
It’s worth checking whether you have the right to make overpayments and to what extent. Savings interest rates aren’t too attractive currently, but banks like Santander offer some excellent deals on savings accounts that are worth a look.
If you’ve survived the bubble bursting; whatever state your finances are in, it may be a good idea to pay down any debts you have whilst interest rates are low and save what you can to give yourself a bit of a cushion; so should the situation deteriorate further, or if interest rates rise in the future, you are less exposed to increasing costs.
Over the past few weeks new mortgage lenders have been popping up at quite a pace, with Platform Igroup and Kensington all returning to the market after considerable time away there is at last some possibility for clients with less than perfect credit history to obtain new mortgages although loan to value limits are still strict.
These lenders maintain adamantly in the press that they are lending to prime borrowers only however the truth is that they are lending to customers who would have been considered near prime or very light adverse in the days preceding the credit crunch.
To boot this week also saw the announcement that Aldermore mortgages had opened its doors to the main intermediary marketplace for both residential and buy to let loans, as well as Precise Mortgages adding further new options in the Buy to Let mortgage marketplace.
Kensington and Igroup in particular have filled the much needed whole between highly competitive high street residential mortgage rates and ultra high adverse rates offered by the likes of Platform and Cheshire Mortgage Corp. They have rates ranging between the 4-6% mark which are much more palatable than 8% plus offerings from the other two.
For further information on any of the products from these new lenders speak to one of our independent mortgage brokers on 0845 4594490
Just a short post to announce that you can now get live online quotes direct from our main site for Life Insurance, income protection, Mortgage Protection and Critical Illness Insurance direct from the Rightmortgageadvice.co.uk website.
To get an instant quote today follow this link for Life Insurance Quotes.
If you have life insurance cover which was arranged prior to a marriage, or before increasing your mortgage value or mortgage term it may need to be reviewed. It’s crucial to ensure that your protection requirements are reviewed regularly to ensure that it is arranged in the most tax efficient manner and will benefit the people you intended it to.
To discuss protection requirements and products available call one of mortgage protection advisors on 03454594490 for advice.
Question; I have been advised to place my life insurance policy into a trust; why is this?
There are several reasons why some life insurance or assurance policies might be placed into a trust. Generally, they are to do with avoiding tax liabilities or ensuring that the proceeds of a policy will reach the intended recipient.
About two-thirds of people in the UK do not have a valid will and testament and die intestate, which is the term for an estate which does not have a valid will to determine where and how the estate proceeds will be divided up (sometimes there is a will in place which is no longer accurate and can be invalid for this reason too).
In this case, complex rules govern who receives the estate (the laws of intestacy), which could leave the proceeds of a life insurance policy to unintended recipients.
A good example is an unmarried couple who has arranged a life policy on the life of a breadwinner to repay the mortgage in the event of death. In this case, if there were no valid will in place, the proceeds would likely be passed on to the deceased person’s family; rather than the surviving partner, which could include children from a previous marriage, or the deceased person’s parents, for example.
That scenario could realistically lead to someone losing their family home.
In another scenario, a life policy intended to pay out to a couple’s children on the second death; to cover inheritance tax liabilities; would also become part of their estate and be liable to inheritance tax itself. Something placing the policy in trust could avoid.
The rules around the taxation of trusts change regularly, and mortgage advisors will recommend a regular review of your circumstances. A policy written into a trust may one day be better off outside of it, so it is vital to check regularly that existing provisions are still the most tax-efficient and prudent arrangements.
If you have a life insurance policy you think may need to be placed into a trust or to speak further to an advisor, call 0345 4594490 for independent advice.
This is an interesting question for me as it crops up quite a lot; however, remember that borrowing from a bank is not the same as depositing money.
Firstly, on the reasons you should use small regional lenders, they are currently leading the market in terms of mortgage and savings rates, and you may well find their customer service slightly more endearing than the bigger banks.
Small building societies are releasing very competitive products currently, and there is little reason to shy away from them.
Were your mortgage lender to fail, though, there would be very little likelihood of the administrators coming around with repossession orders (if the law even permitted them to do so).
Selling all the properties in an entire loan book would be ludicrously complex and likely produce a much lower return than simply selling the book of loans to another institution, which is commonplace trading among banks and institutional investors.
Even if no buyer were forthcoming to purchase the loan book, the administrators would likely let the book run and pass administration to an outsourcing firm; again quite common.
The current UK government has made it clear that it will not allow any financial institution in the UK to fail, regardless of its size. The FSCS or Financial Services Compensation Scheme, currently does not discriminate between the size of institutions either, so as long as the provider is a part of this scheme and falls under UK regulation, your protection as a consumer is equal regardless of an institution’s size.
