Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
How We Helped a Couple Buy Their First Home Using a Gifted Deposit
Learn how Oportfolio Mortgages helped first-time buyers purchase their dream home using a gifted deposit from family. Learn how the right lender, expert guidance and proactive communication helped make the mortgage process simple, stress-free and successful.
Life Insurance For Self-Employed People
Discover how life insurance for self-employed people works, whether it’s tax deductible and how to choose the right cover to protect your mortgage, family and business.
Can I Get a Mortgage With Multiple Sources of Income?
Find out how mortgage lenders assess multiple sources of income, what documents you’ll need and how different income streams could affect your borrowing power.
TSB and Skipton Introduce New Products To Market
Mortgage lenders TSB and Skipton Building Society have send messages to brokers this morning to inform them that they will be re-introducing products to the mortgage market. These new products are higher in interest rates than they previously were and follow suit with...
Are Long Fixed Term Mortgages the Solution?
Traditionally, people purchasing, remortgaging or doing a product transfer on a residential property are advised by brokers and banks to take a fixed term mortgage. A fixed term mortgage means that your mortgage product and rate are fixed in place for a number of...
Average 2-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Now Over 6%
Financial information company Moneyfacts have reported that the average 2-year fixed mortgage rate now stands at over 6% meaning that borrowers looking to get a 2-year fixed rate loan or are coming off their current fixed deal and are hoping to get a new low rate, are...
What Could a 6% Base Rate Mean For Mortgages?
Please note that this is an opinion piece and is purely hypothetical, exploring what could happen. Not what will necessarily happen. This week, several economists suggested that we could see a 6% base rate from the Bank of England within the next 12 months. Despite...
Barclays Mortgage Policy Changes You Need To Know
There have been some recent changes to Barclays mortgage policy announced today, that everyone needs to be aware of. Barclays, like many other lenders of late, have been making major changes to their mortgage affordability and their interest rates. Unfortunately for...
Skipton Remove Their Residential Base Rate Tracker
In a message to brokers this morning, Skipton Building Society have announced that they will be removing their 60% loan to value (60% mortgage) residential base rate tracker products from their lending offerings. They have also announced a complete refresh of their...
Being a First-Time Buyer Is Getting More Expensive
It is no secret that being a first-time buyer and achieving home ownership in the UK is more difficult than it once was. In the past property prices were cheaper, mortgage lenders were more generous with their affordability checks, and 100% mortgages were commonplace...
Banks Not Accepting Mortgage Applications?
Despite only being six months into 2023, the mortgage market has certainly gone through enough changes and instability for a lifetime! Rates have increased, lenders have pulled rates and made changes to their affordability criteria to make borrowing more difficult....
Buy To Let Stress Tests Getting Even Higher
This morning NatWest Bank have announced that they will be making some major new changes to their Buy to Let stress tests. Meaning that it will become more difficult for Buy to Let landlords to get the level of lending that they need in order to finance their...
TSB Lower Mortgage Rates
In a very surprising move, TSB lower mortgage rates across their residential, buy-to-let and product transfer product offerings. This means that both new borrowers and existing TSB loan owners can get a lower rate with the Edinburgh based lender through specialist...
Nationwide Maximum Loan To Value Increase For Flats
Nationwide Building Society have announced that from the 9th of June 2023, they will be increasing the Nationwide maximum loan to value for non new build flats and apartments. What does this mean exactly? The loan to value of a property is the percentage of a property...
New Mortgage Rates UK and Average UK Rates
Today, both Nationwide Building Society and Bank of Ireland have announced new mortgage rates and products after withdrawing several existing products in the last week. The new products for Bank of Ireland are specifically for their buy-to-let mortgage offerings...
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