UK inflation remains at 1.9% for March, Office for National Statistics says.
Decrease in Poor Credit mortgages available
Unbelievably, the number of Decrease in Poor Credit mortgages available 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 and DSS 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.