Tesco Bank Stops offering mortgages

Tesco Bank has said that it has stopped offering new mortgages and is looking at options to sell on its existing mortgage portfolio.

Tesco Bank says it will consider the complete transfer of related balances and ongoing administration of relevant accounts.

The Bank, which has been issuing mortgages since 2012, currently has more than 23,000 customers with a total lending of £3.7bn.

DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT

To avoid increasing payments, borrowers whose mortgage deals are due to expire are encouraged to act fast by seeking the advice of a mortgage adviser.


The Times recently reported that thousands of mortgage borrowers whose mortgage deals are coming to an end this month risk a sharp increase in their monthly repayments if they do not act fast. The discounted loan deals that are coming to the end are worth a total of about £22.3 billion which is double the amount of the previous month. Unless these borrowers act with speed, they will be automatically switched onto their lender’s standard variable rate (SVR) and as a result, suffer an increase in their monthly repayments, unless they decide to remortgage.

According to Moneyfacts, the average SVR is 4.24 per cent, compared with a typical remortgage deal of 1.93 per cent. If you are switched to a standard variable rate, this will have a severe impact on your monthly repayments. A homebuyer with a £400,000 mortgage on the SVR would be about £485 worse off each month, £5,796 over a year, than a homebuyer who seized the cheaper rate.

Despite homeowners having the opportunity to save themselves a lot of money, a surprisingly large number of borrowers will fail to transfer, either out of apathy or believing that SVR’s are their only option.

Those who remortgage, stand to benefit from mortgage price wars. With limited demand for mortgages, lenders are competing for a smaller number of customers which means that lenders are offering competitive product transfers to clients, who, not so long ago, would have been forced to move elsewhere to get a cheap rate when their loan terms expired.

If your mortgage deal is due to expire, we would recommend that you get in contact with us to ensure that you do not get caught out.

colin@thefinancehouse.co.uk

01273 857024

Stuck on a high Rate

The Times recently reported that thousands of mortgage borrowers whose mortgage deals are coming to an end this month risk a sharp increase in their monthly repayments if they do not act fast. The discounted loan deals that are coming to the end are worth a total of about £22.3 billion which is double the amount of the previous month. Unless these borrowers act with speed, they will be automatically switched onto their lender’s standard variable rate (SVR) and as a result, suffer an increase in their monthly repayments, unless they decide to remortgage.

According to Moneyfacts, the average SVR is 4.24 per cent, compared with a typical remortgage deal of 1.93 per cent. If you are switched to a standard variable rate, this will have a severe impact on your monthly repayments. A homebuyer with a £400,000 mortgage on the SVR would be about £485 worse off each month, £5,796 over a year, than a homebuyer who seized the cheaper rate.


Despite homeowners having the opportunity to save themselves a lot of money, a surprisingly large number of borrowers will fail to transfer, either out of apathy or believing that SVR’s are their only option.


Those who remortgage, stand to benefit from mortgage price wars. With limited demand for mortgages, lenders are competing for a smaller number of customers which means that lenders are offering competitive product transfers to clients, who, not so long ago, would have been forced to move elsewhere to get a cheap rate when their loan terms expired.


If your mortgage deal is due to expire, we would recommend that you get in contact with us to ensure that you do not get caught out.

UK Inflation

UK inflation remains at 1.9% for March, Office for National Statistics says.

Decrease in Poor Credit mortgages available

Unbelievably, the number of poor credit home owner mortgages available at the moment has gone down from 851 in October 2018 to just 590 this month, according to data from Moneyfacts.

The poor credit mortgage market is considered a specialist lending sector, so most of these mortgages are only available through Brokers. So it’s a shame that the brokers that deal with these are the ones that also charge a fee, hitting the people with the most needs even harder.

It’s refreshing to know that The Finance House not only can arrange poor credit mortgages they will also do it without charging a fee.

Skipton do away with wet signatures

No more wet signatures with The Skipton Building Society. Skipton, working with Brokers have now launched a new digital signature capability – they are starting to process some of their documentation via a digital signature.

This new process means being able to sign for a document online and no longer having to print, sign and post – saving you time and effort.

The first document you’ll be able to sign digitally for is their e-declaration form.

Platform does away with DSS conditions

Platform, who are the intermediary mortgage branch of The Co-operative Bank, are the latest firm to remove letting conditions that stop landlords letting properties to tenants who receive housing benefit.

From the 1st April 2019, none of their mortgages will stop landlords from letting to tenants in receipt of housing benefit.

Landlords can let to tenants from April. This will also be made across all lending brands of The Co-operative Bank.

Already, NatWest has removed restrictions on buy-to-let landlords which stopped them from letting to DSS tenants.

This was probably because that in October, NatWest’s lending conditions came under fire about a case of a landlord who was refused a remortgage and threatened with revocation of the existing mortgage on the property because she was renting to a tenant in receipt of housing benefit.

The Work and Pensions Committee contacted NatWest, Co-Op and a series of other mortgage lenders including Kensington, Nationwide, Metro Bank and Precise, whether their buy-to-let mortgage policy allow landlords to let to tenants receiving any benefits including housing benefit.