Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
UK Foreign National Mortgage Just Got Easier With Santander
UK foreign national mortgage lending has just gone through a big change, and this change comes at the hands of mortgage lender Santander. Historically being a foreign national and getting a mortgage in the UK has sometimes been a tricky feat due to things like right...
New Barclays Mortgage At 3.71% Announced
A new Barclays mortgage product at 3.71% has been announced this week, becoming the latest in quite a few recent announcements from big UK mortgage lenders who are all dropping their rates below 4%. In recent weeks there has been a mortgage 'rate war' or sorts which...
NatWest Buy-To-Let Mortgage Rates Come Down 0.60%
NatWest buy-to-let mortgage products have been hit by some significant rate reductions this morning, giving a boost to both current and aspiring buy-to-let landlord investors. Over the last few years the buy-to-let market has taken a bit of a beating to put it...
Getting A Non-UK Resident Mortgage
Despite recent economic struggles in the UK, most down to government mismanagement of taxes at the end of 2022, the UK is still a great place to own property. Especially property in high net-worth areas such as London and the South-East. In London, properties have...
Should I Get A Green Buy-To-Let Mortgage?
In a world where we are all encouraged to be more environmentally friendly, we are constantly looking at ways of reducing our carbon footprint and preserve the world for future generations. One of the major ways that people are looking at doing this, is by making...
New Coventry and Santander Mortgage Rates
In a period that is quickly becoming known as the 2023 lender bidding wars, mortgage lenders are competing with each other on a daily basis to try and secure mortgage business, after a slump at the end of 2022. Lenders are competing with each other by dropping...
Need A Green Home Mortgage? Barclays Have Your Back.
The people of 2023 are a considerate bunch. I don't mean to sound insincere with that statement if it sounds that way! Global warming, climate change, energy efficiency and the like is a very hot topic in 2023 and people are becoming more and more conscious about...
Is It Possible For A Single Person To Buy Anymore?
New data released by mortgage lender Halifax claims to show that a massive 63% of first time buyer mortgages taken out in 2022/23 are in joint names rather than a sole purchase. That means that just 37% of first time buyers are taken out by a single person on their...
Oportfolio’s Top Mortgage Tips. Forget Martin Lewis.
This blog comes from Oportfolio Mortgage's Senior Mortgage and Protection Advisor Jade Pinkerton. I had an appointment yesterday with some clients and it was an interesting conversation to say the least. We discussed many things, but one thing in particular was quite...
5 Million UK Adults Can’t Afford Bills
In an email sent out to brokers this morning, insurance advisor LV= have announced that their research has revealed that 5 million UK adults can't afford bills and other day-to-day expenses. In LV='s newly released report, they revealed several statistics that really...
Could Mortgage Rates Fall Substantially In 2023?
2023 is already shaping up to be a very interesting, and hopefully positive year for mortgages and the property market. Well, let's face it, anything is better than the disaster of the end of 2022. We all know that mortgage rates increased significantly in September...
Meet James Brook From Novello Chartered Surveyors
In part two of our 'Meet the property professional' series, Oportfolio Mortgages spoke to chartered surveyor James Brook FRICS, co-founder of Novello Surveyors. Novello is a RICS chartered surveying firm covering locations across London, the home counties, and...
Santander Credit Card Mortgage Criteria
Although a generally generous mortgage lender and a big name player in the UK mortgage market, Santander has come under criticism in the past for their attitude towards credit commitments when assessing mortgage affordability. However, Santander have recently...
Should I Have A Tax Return?
When looking at getting a mortgage as a self-employed person, it can be difficult to get your head round exactly what you need to provide and what the mortgage lenders will need to see. For things like product transfers, chances are that the lender is unlikely to ask...
Mortgage Lenders Are Hungry For Business
Official figures released by the Bank of England this month shows that UK inflation has dropped for the second month in a row in December 2022. Figures show that inflation was at 10.7% in November and had dropped to 10.5% in December. Not a huge drop but much better...
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