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Leeds Building Society launches new 10 year fixed rate mortgage
Leeds Building Society has launched a 10-year fixed rate mortgage at only 5.54%. There is no higher lending charge, the product is available up to 90% loan to value and 10% capital repayments are allowed each year, without penalty.
Karen Wint, Head of Marketing & PR said, "With the recent rise in market rates and the widely predicted further increase in bank base rate, possibly as early as next month, many borrowers will be looking for ways to protect themselves against any increase and lock in long term value. At just over 5.50% with a fixed fee, rather than some of the higher percentage based fees, this product provides certainty at an affordable rate.
"The 10-year fixed is fully portable, so if customers do wish to move during the term, they can take this product with them.
Adjustable-loan shocker hidden in fine print
"I have recently heard advertisements for mortgages with the disclaimer that the 'payment rate is not the interest rate.' How does that work?" The interest rate is the rate used to calculate the amount of interest the borrower owes the lender each month. The payment rate is the rate used to calculate the amount of the payment the borrower is obliged to make each month. On most mortgages, they are one and the same, which is why it may be confusing when they are different. Consider a 30-year mortgage for $100,000 at an interest rate of 6 percent. The interest due from the borrower in the first month is .06 multiplied by 100,000 and divided by 12, which comes out to $500. Using 6 percent as the payment rate, the monthly payment is $599.56. This is calculated from a formula that my editors find too complex to show here, but it is available on my Web site.
Mortgage Woes Send FBR to Quarterly Loss
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group reported its largest loss in more than a year yesterday, saying the housing loans offered by one of its companies dragged down profit in the wake of a nationwide surge of defaults that has jolted the mortgage industry. The Arlington investment bank reported a loss of $185.9 million ($1.08 a share) for the first three months of the year, compared with a profit of $26.6 million (16 cents) in the corresponding period a year earlier. FBR said its mortgage company, First NLC Financial Services, lost $124.2 million in the quarter. First NLC specializes in subprime loans, those generally offered to people with blemished credit or insufficient cash for a down payment. .
Mortgage rate rise 'looking certain'
Home owners are almost certain to be hit with an increase in their mortgage payments next week after the Nationwide said house prices continued to soar, with the average cost of a home passing £180,000. The Bank of England is widely expected to increase interest rates by a quarter of a point to 5.5 per cent next Thursday, but some are now forecasting that rates could jump to 5.75 per cent. The Nationwide said prices rose 0.9 per cent in April, taking the average price of a British home to £180,314. The annual rate of house price inflation is now 10.2 per cent. .
Property crisis alert as poorest face bailiffs
Court actions by mortgage lenders to repossess customers' homes because they are behind with repayments have almost doubled in two years. Repossession actions are at their highest since 1993, when Britain was in the middle of a deep recession and house prices had crashed. .
Savings and loan offers to refinance subprime mortgages
Washington Mutual Inc., the largest U.S. savings and loan, offered to refinance $2 billion worth of mortgages at lower interest rates to help subprime borrowers meet rising payments on their homes. Homeowners who anticipate higher payments on a Washington Mutual adjustable-rate subprime mortgage can apply for assistance, the Seattle-based thrift said Wednesday in a statement. One of the options is a 30-year, fixed-rate loan that charges half a percentage point of interest less than borrowers would otherwise pay. Washington Mutual has about $20.4 billion in subprime loans on its books, or about 9 percent of the $217 billion loan portfolio. Late payments on subprime loans industrywide reached a four-year high in 2006, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, and foreclosure filings jumped 47 percent last month from a year earlier, RealtyTrac Inc.
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