Old friends revisited, and nothing changes.
Thursday morning:
I had a very enjoyable day out in the countryside of Cornwall yesterday, around St Mellion in North Cornwall and then down to St Ives and Gurnards Head, in west Cornwall, revisiting old friends and seeing how much the place has changed (which it hadn't really, apart from the roadworks along the A38 which will have some impact) and yet the lending world did not stop it's onward march. There were more cutbacks of jobs announced and also the removal of the headline-hitting (for all the wrong reasons) 125% products from 4 lenders (Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Coventry BS and Godiva Mortgages). This leaves Northern Rock (and one other lender) very much in the frame for this kind of product, designed to help first time buyers get a foothold on the property ladder, albeit at a premium interest rate. I'm sure it's only a question of time before they have to succumb to public pressure, especially they are now government-owned. However, with an interest rate of 8.2%, they effectively make the product unaffordable for First Time Buyers anyway, effectively pricing themselves out of their own market. With the mortgage market being so cyclical, hard times such as those currently being exerienced have been here before. I remember around 28 years ago, when there were actually queues for mortgages, as funding was so tight. Although we've not yet come to that point, the 'stupid' products are being dropped, to leave 'sensible' products left on the shelves. As we all know, 'sensible' people will have saved at least a 5% deposit, and therefore have these 'sensible' products available to them. What is left on the shelves (according to my sourcing system today) are 9,822 mortgages (with some duplicates due to the 'route' the product is available from). Incredible to think a few months ago there were over 20,000 products listed on the sourcing system, which is a clear indication to me that things have got tough. Also, with a deposit comes lower monthly payments, and associated fees, which would save literally thousands of pounds to borrowers. It's also clear that using an Independent Mortgage Adviser makes more sense than ever nowadays as, if there's more than 2 products available for a given situation, advice is what's needed.
I had to re-register with a lender today, as I'd recently changed my mortgage network. When inputting my details, I couldn't get past the screen where I had to input my telephone number (an 0845 number). I called the lender (on an 0845 number) and they said I cannot use an 0845 number for registering. Stupid, or what?
Thursday afternoon:
I just received this email from Northern Rock..(at 14.50pm )
"Withdrawal of Together
Northern Rock will withdraw the Together mortgage range on Thursday 21 February 2008.
Applications for the outgoing Together products will be accepted until 8pm on Thursday 21 February. "
Exactly what I said earlier, and reiterates what I said when I said they'd have to bow to pressure to remove such 'stupid' products. Another example of products being withdrawn at a moment's notice !
Sense will prevail (but not when it comes to lenders and their frustrating online systems, it seems).
I had a very enjoyable day out in the countryside of Cornwall yesterday, around St Mellion in North Cornwall and then down to St Ives and Gurnards Head, in west Cornwall, revisiting old friends and seeing how much the place has changed (which it hadn't really, apart from the roadworks along the A38 which will have some impact) and yet the lending world did not stop it's onward march. There were more cutbacks of jobs announced and also the removal of the headline-hitting (for all the wrong reasons) 125% products from 4 lenders (Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Coventry BS and Godiva Mortgages). This leaves Northern Rock (and one other lender) very much in the frame for this kind of product, designed to help first time buyers get a foothold on the property ladder, albeit at a premium interest rate. I'm sure it's only a question of time before they have to succumb to public pressure, especially they are now government-owned. However, with an interest rate of 8.2%, they effectively make the product unaffordable for First Time Buyers anyway, effectively pricing themselves out of their own market. With the mortgage market being so cyclical, hard times such as those currently being exerienced have been here before. I remember around 28 years ago, when there were actually queues for mortgages, as funding was so tight. Although we've not yet come to that point, the 'stupid' products are being dropped, to leave 'sensible' products left on the shelves. As we all know, 'sensible' people will have saved at least a 5% deposit, and therefore have these 'sensible' products available to them. What is left on the shelves (according to my sourcing system today) are 9,822 mortgages (with some duplicates due to the 'route' the product is available from). Incredible to think a few months ago there were over 20,000 products listed on the sourcing system, which is a clear indication to me that things have got tough. Also, with a deposit comes lower monthly payments, and associated fees, which would save literally thousands of pounds to borrowers. It's also clear that using an Independent Mortgage Adviser makes more sense than ever nowadays as, if there's more than 2 products available for a given situation, advice is what's needed.
I had to re-register with a lender today, as I'd recently changed my mortgage network. When inputting my details, I couldn't get past the screen where I had to input my telephone number (an 0845 number). I called the lender (on an 0845 number) and they said I cannot use an 0845 number for registering. Stupid, or what?
Thursday afternoon:
I just received this email from Northern Rock..(at 14.50pm )
"Withdrawal of Together
Northern Rock will withdraw the Together mortgage range on Thursday 21 February 2008.
Applications for the outgoing Together products will be accepted until 8pm on Thursday 21 February. "
Exactly what I said earlier, and reiterates what I said when I said they'd have to bow to pressure to remove such 'stupid' products. Another example of products being withdrawn at a moment's notice !
Sense will prevail (but not when it comes to lenders and their frustrating online systems, it seems).
posted by Des Tourick 1st Call 4 Mortgages at
15:26
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