Chelsea BS Drops Mortgage Rate The Chelsea Building Society has dropped the rate of its 2 year fixed rate mortgage to 1.99% – available to customers with up to 60% loan-to-value.  The Chelsea BS has also released an equivalent offset mortgage at 2.19%.  Both mortgage offers last until April 2015 and are subject to a [...]

Making The Right Decision With Savings When Rates Go Up   Sooner or later the Bank of England is going to announce an increase in the base rate. The current base rate has remained at the historically low level of 0.5% for nearly two years, so homeowners are forgiven for getting used to poor savings [...]

Guarantor Mortgage Becoming Obsolete? It has emerged that the Halifax intends to withdraw its guarantor mortgage from the market in March, currently being offered by brokers.  A guarantor mortgage is a deal where a person (usually a close relative) guarantees to repay the mortgage if the borrower is not in the position to, or refuses [...]

Mortgage Loan-to-Value Facts – A Cap On Borrowing   One of the main factors to consider when taking up a mortgage is the mortgage loan-to-value (LTV).  The LTV figure that a bank provides with any particular deal on offer is the maximum they are willing to lend against the current value of the property.  This [...]

Guarantor mortgages can offer hope to first time buyers First time buyers often struggle to get onto the property ladder and purchase their first home.  There is a type of mortgage that can help these potential buyers and it is a guarantor mortgage.  A guarantor mortgage is a type of mortgage where a relative, in [...]

What is an offset mortgage and how does it work? In simple terms an offset mortgage is a mortgage that allows the borrower to offset their savings against their mortgage debt in order to reduce interest payments. An offset mortgage could be ideal for those with a reasonable level of savings, or need to put [...]

Variable Rate Mortgage A variable rate mortgage is based on the lender’s standard variable rate (SVR).  This is a rate that is set typically around 2% above the Bank of England base rate.  Therefore the interest payments are likely to rise and fall depending on the base rate (now officially called the bank rate) set [...]

Fixed Rate Mortgage A fixed rate mortgage is a mortgage where the interest rate is fixed and therefore the borrower will have the security and knowledge as to exactly how much interest they are paying each month. No matter what happens to the Bank of England rate the interest payments will always be constant. However, [...]