News Archive From October 2006

• Property ownership is ‘out of reach’ to over 17 million Britons [31.10.06]
  According to the latest report to be issued by Abbey, over 17 million Britons cite a number of various reasons as to why they feel property ownership in the UK is but a mere dream.
• British Women Bingeing On Debt [30.10.06]
  According to a recent survey of 800 volunteers examining different attitudes towards debt undertaken by ICM, British women are now bingeing on debt. The ease with which most UK lenders are making credit available to Britons these days means that many of us are losing control of our finances.
• Should you be offsetting your UK home mortgage loan? [27.10.06]
  With UK interest rates expected to climb yet again, UK mortgage lenders are becoming ever more innovative with their home loan products in order to try and entice UK homeowners to move over and borrow from them. The latest in the UK home loan gimmicks is the offset home loan.
• Two-thirds of UK employees risk workplace identity theft [26.10.06]
  It seems harmless enough, a work colleague of yours asks you a few simple questions about yourself or what you did at the weekend. Before long they know if you have any children, if you’re single or married, where you like to go and what you like to do.
• FSA listens to MPs’ worries over PPI products [25.10.06]
  In yet another blow to UK lenders, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), a government sanction watchdog, having been listening to the concerns of Members of Parliament that payment protection insurance (PPI) products are still not treating consumers fairly.
• Stamp Duty Slowing Down First-time Home Buying In The UK [13.10.06]
  Despite Gordon Brown have doubled the threshold amount before you have to pay stamp duty on home purchases in the UK - from £60,000 to £120,000 - in last year’s budget, with the average cost of a home in the UK now reaching the lofty heights of £200,000, many first-time buyers in the UK are facing the prospect of having to pay stamp duty on their property purchase and not liking it.
• Millions Of Self-Employed Brits Turning To Self-Certification Mortgage Home Loans [12.10.06]
  For years self-employed Brits have found it difficult if not impossible to successfully apply for a home mortgage loan in the UK. Previously many UK home mortgage lenders simply saw home mortgage loans to the self-employed as being too risky.
• UK Lending Rates Frozen Despite Rising House Prices [10.10.06]
  With house prices jumping 1.7% in August, the annual rate of inflation in the UK rose to 7.7%. The good news for UK home loan borrowers, however, was the decision by the Bank of England not to follow its surprise jump in base rate lending and to freeze base rate of lending at 4.75% - at least for another month.
• Demand for flexible home loans grows in the UK [06.10.06]
  With the surprising increase in interest rates recently announced by the Bank of England, and an overall rise in UK cost of living expenses, UK homeowners finding it difficult to make ends meet are turning to their home loan lenders demanding that they be given flexible UK home mortgage loan terms.
• Great Bargains To Be Had As UK Home Mortgage Market Tightens [05.10.06]
  Recent figures announced by the Nationwide Building Society say UK house prices rise by 1.3% last month and 8.2% year-on-year. So Brits would need more mortgages? Not so according to figures released y the British Banking Association, which saw home mortgage approvals in August (71,300) fall from their all time high of 86,100 in June.
• Help Finally At Hand For First Time Buyers [04.10.06]
  With the introduction of the UK Government’s Open Market HomeBuy scheme, finally help is at hand for first-time buyers who are currently struggling to get on the UK’s increasingly expensive housing ladder.
• 'Portable' Home Mortgage Loans Look Set To Lure Brits [03.10.06]
  Historically, when Brits wanted to buy a new home they had to make a home mortgage application to a lender. The lender would then review the application, value the home and decide if the risk was securing enough to lend. If you wanted to move, you had to re-apply for a new mortgage on the new home.
• Keep a Careful Eye-Out For The Latest UK Share Spam Email [02.10.06]
  Most of us in the UK have, at one point or another, received a spam email. Unpleasant as they are, in most cases we simply hit the ‘delete’ button and the message has gone forever. But what would you do if you received an email giving you a hot tip on stock traded on the stock exchange? Would you delete it the same way as you would the spam email?