Achieved News

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  • FSA fines broker

    The UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, recently decided to fine a mortgage broker dealing with equity release mortgages, claiming that it had found 'persistent record keeping failures and systems and controls deficiencies' during investigations into the firm. The Minel Group, based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, was fined £10,500 by the Financial Services Authority following the investigation over the mis-selling of these lifetime mortgages, and was also told to review the sale of equity release mortgages between November 2004 and December 2005, issuing compensation to customers that had lost money through the mis-selling of these mortgages.


  • Building societies offer most of the best mortgage deals

    A recent report has claimed that the vast majority of affordable mortgages actually come from building societies rather than from banks, and as a result of this consumers thinking of taking out a mortgage are being advised to steer clear of banks when it comes to finding a low cost mortgage deal.


  • Many consumers do not change mortgage lender

    According to the results shown in a recent report many consumers in the UK are failing to shop around for a better mortgage, even when their existing affordable deals come to an end and they are faced with the prospect of moving to the lender's standard variable rate, which is often in excess of 7.75%. The poll was carried out by mform.co.uk, and showed that many consumers could be missing out on annual savings of thousands of pounds simply by failing to shop around and find the best mortgage deal.


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  • Campaign over sale and rent back schemes increases

    Over recent months sale and rent back scheme have been hitting the headlines on a regular basis, and have not been viewed in a good light by many officials and campaigners. With more and more people facing repossession in the UK due to higher interest rates and repayments these firms have crawled out of the woodwork offering these vulnerable consumers a chance to stay in their homes and eliminate the risk of repossession. This is through selling their home to the company and then renting it back from them.


  • Increase in level of rejected mortgage applications

    According to recent figures the level of mortgage applications that are being rejected in the UK have shot up over recent months. New figures show that the level of rejected mortgage applications has soared by around 60% over the past six months, reflecting the effects of the interest rate rises coupled with volatile financial markets. In the first half year to October around 738,000 applications for home loans were rejected according to the figures.


  • Insolvency numbers fall again

    According to a recent report the number of people that are being declared insolvent has fallen. Figures fell in insolvency numbers across England and Wales. The reduction in figures during the third quarter reflects a drop of 3% on the previous quarter's figures, and a drop of 5% in figures during the same period last year. The drop now takes insolvency figures down to 26,072, which is welcoming news amidst the turmoil that has recently hit the finance markets coupled with high bad debt levels.


  • Bad credit consumers losing thousands of pounds in deposits

    The global credit crunch and the turmoil that has affected the UK's financial markets have started to really take effect over recent months. A number of lenders have suffered as a result of the chaos and consumers have found it increasingly difficult to get finance as a result of lenders tightening their criteria and exercising increased stringency in their lending practices.


  • House price crash won't affect spending

    A recent report has shown that most homeowners would not change their spending habits in the event that house prices fall. The survey, carried out by the BBC, suggested that the majority of homeowners in the UK would continue with their existing spending habits even if there was a major fall in house prices. Over one thousand people were polled as part of the survey, and nearly 90% said that even if house prices fell by 10% or more they would not change their spending in items such as groceries.


  • Surprising house price growth figures from Nationwide

    Amidst speculation of falling house prices over the coming months the Nationwide Building Society has released figures that show house prices rose at their fastest pace in four months during the month of October. September saw a fall of 0.6% in house prices, which was an unexpected fall according to many experts. However, many have been surprised by the figures released by Nationwide with regards to house price growth in October.


  • Opt for an FSA regulated lender

    When you are looking to take out a loan there are a number of things that you need to consider. Not only do you need to think about what type of loan to go for and how much you need to borrow but you also need to think about which lender to choose for your loan. It is important that you get the right lender for your loan, as otherwise you could end up paying way over the odds and could find yourself having problems with the lender as time goes on. You should therefore check a number of things when looking at different lender to make sure that you get a lender that is reputable and fair.


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