Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
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...
Transport Links In London And Buying Property
Living in the capital is great. Whether you are a young professional forging your career in the big city, or a seasoned 'Londoner' who just loves everything about the metropolitan lifestyle. There is something for everyone. And getting a slice of real estate for...
Virgin Money Mortgage Rates Drop Below 4%
Virgin Money mortgage rates have tumbled to below 4% this week! A very welcome rate reduction came from the money lending arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin empire. This rate reduction is just one of many from lenders dropping their rates as economic stability returns to...
Standard Variable Rate Mortgage – Case Study
Key facts: Couple purchased their first property in the UK a few years ago but never had the standard variable rate explained to them. Their mortgage was on an interest only basis but when their product term ended, they reverted automatically to the SVR. They were...
£1 Million+ Mortgage for a London Professional
Key facts: Client found his dream property and needed a large £1 Million+ mortgage loan. As a mortgage over £1 Million is larger than your average mortgage, there were several factors that needed to be taken into account and specific criteria needed to be met. Our...
Company Director Mortgage needed for professional couple
Key facts: Clients were looking to purchase their first home together as a couple and had found the perfect starter home. With a decent sized deposit that they had worked hard to save, our clients were looking forward to starting their new life together as homeowners....
Putney Mortgage Advisor helps local buyers
Key facts: Clients had already purchased a property in Putney and were looking for a Putney Mortgage Advisor who knew the area well and had an in-depth understanding of the area to help. The property that the clients had purchased needed a lot of structural and...
How much does it cost to live NEAR London?
The office on national statistics (ONS) have recently released a report that claims that a town’s proximity to London is one of the top 3 factors that affect a property’s value. The data presented by the ONS and recorded in 2019 found that towns within 200km of London...
Natwest Announce a 40 Year Mortgage Term
Fantastic news coming out of NatWest Intermediary Solutions as they announce a significant improvement to their mortgage lending criteria – an increase to both the maximum term allowed and age allowed. What's new? Effective immediately, mortgages submitted via an...
Shared ownership mortgages are back with The West Brom
Who are The West Brom? West Midlands based building society The West Brom has announced that they are vetoing their ban on shared ownership mortgages. The 173 year old building society, which was once known as a good new build shared ownership specialist, dropped out...
Self-employed income requirements change for Santander
Mortgage lending juggernaut Santander have today announced that from the 11th of April they will be introducing new self-employed mortgage income requirements. We all know that when it comes to self-employed income, it is never a straightforward affair. Salaries,...
Loan to income caps are increasing for big lenders
Both Halifax and Scottish Widows have announced today that there will be a dramatic shake up with their loan to income rules from Wednesday the 6th of April. Both lenders will be increasing their loan to income affordability from 4.49X to 4.75X income meaning that...
Santander increases rates across its products
Over the last couple of days Santander has announced that it has increased its rates on most residential and buy to let products meaning that repayments will go up for thousands of people. Some of the rate changes are as follows…
Client takes on an ambitious 2nd property purchase plan
Our client found his dream property after an extensive search. He already owned a residential property and wanted to keep this as a 2nd home however this was unaffordable to do due to the expense of having two properties.
Landlord is shocked when credit checks decline
A regular client of Oportfolio and experienced landlord came back to us to look at remortgaging some of her rental properties to avoid going on to the standard variable rate and also to release some needed equity. We carried out a decision in principle which should have passed no problem however this unexpectedly declined. We then approached another lender but this decision in principle also declined unexpectedly.
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