Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
5.5X Income Mortgage Available For First Time Buyers
Is it possible to get a 5.5X income mortgage? That is a very common question that I am hearing more and more. Mainly because borrowing money is becoming more difficult. When I first started working in mortgages and property, there were plenty of purchase schemes...
HSBC Mortgage Rates Smash Competition At 3.81%
HSBC mortgage rates have truly smashed their competition to smithereens by introducing a product with an interest rate as low as 3.81%. Although not currently the absolute lowest rate on the market, HSBC has beaten many other high street banks so far in the rate war...
Nationwide And Barclays Cut UK Mortgage Rates To 3.78%
In what is quickly becoming something like a UK mortgage rates price battle, lenders are firing rate reductions left, right, and centre. Paving the way for some very favourable mortgage opportunities for the remaining four months of 2024, leading into 2025. I have to...
What Is The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme?
The latest news coming out of number 10 today is that, in an attempt to fix the damaged and struggling mortgage market, the government is looking into different property purchase schemes and how they are being utilised. One of these schemes on the table for discussion...
Plan International – Oportfolio’s Charity Initiative
As financial advisors, we are passionate about taking care of people and making sure that we can help make people's lives better financially in any way we can. So, with this mentality at the forefront of everyone in the office's minds, we wanted to extend our...
Can The Banks Cope? A Mortgage Advisor’s Perspective.
What on Earth is going on with the mortgage market at the moment? Lots of conflicting stories on the news and people claiming banks have cancelled their mortgages and now charging them 10% interest to re-apply. In a change up to our usual blog format, one of...
3rd Of Property Offers Are Submitted Within 1 Hour Of Viewing
Intermediary only lender MPowered Mortgages have released figures this morning that surprisingly show that still, even in the face of economic uncertainty, the property market is still flourishing! They have revealed that from their research, 1/3 of property...
Self-employed people. Get your tax documents organised now!
Mortgage lenders will now be requesting new tax documents as proof of your income. Calling all self-employed people. Get your tax documents organised now to make sure you aren't caught out when applying for a mortgage. Generally, when it comes to self-employed people,...
Is Buying Property Now The Savvy Way Forward?
It seems that the only thing the newspapers are talking about right now is how bad the state of the country is economically. Every headline seems to say something about incompetent government ministers, ill-judged tax reductions, the soaring cost of living, and the...
TSB And TMW Increase Mortgage Stress Test Rates
The words generous and mortgage lenders are definitely not synonymous with each other, there's no trying to fake that. For years, lenders have favoured higher earners, repeat buyers, and borrowers with larger than life deposits. And often, first time buyers,...
Skipton Announce New Mortgage Range
Mortgage lender Skipton for intermediaries have returned to the mortgage market along with other lenders like NatWest, Halifax, Barclays and others since the government tax U-turn announced yesterday. Skipton have announced a new mortgage range, focusing on...
Buy Now And Be In Your New Home For Christmas!
Yes...we've said it. The C word. Christmas! In most circumstances, Monday the 3rd of October would be WAY to early to start talking about Christmas however when it comes to mortgages and property you can never be too early. Christmas is 83 days away or just under 12...
Lenders Return To Market With Higher Rates
After the mass lender exodus last week due to the proposed tax cuts, mortgage lenders have thankfully started returning to the market. But with higher rates as expected. When will rates go down again? Who knows. But as mortgage advisors we are very happy that...
Government Backtracks On 45p Tax Cut
Despite the chancellor and Liz Truss's new conservative government announcing their mini budget last week, they have already been forced to go back on their word due to a massive backlash from the public and financial institutions. The major issue in the budget...
What Is The Nationwide Helping Hand Mortgage?
As a first time buyer, it may seem like the whole property market is against you at times. Especially because of recent economic events and the frenzy the lenders seem to have gone through over the last few days. But thankfully the banks seem to have calmed down a bit...
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