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 Newly Appointed Executive Secure A £750,000 Mortgage During Their Probation Period
Discover how we helped a newly appointed executive secure a £750,000 mortgage while still in their probation period. Learn how lender criteria can make all the difference.
How To Add Value To Your Home
Discover the best ways to add value to your home in the UK, from loft conversions and kitchen renovations to solar panels and garage conversions. Learn which home improvements can increase property value, improve buyer appeal, and which upgrades may not deliver the return you expect.
Can I Get A Mortgage With A Small Deposit?
Learn how low-deposit mortgages work in the UK, whether you can buy with a 5% deposit, and what lenders look for when assessing mortgage affordability.
Halifax Mortgage Affordability Changes
In a message to all mortgage brokers, Halifax Bank have announced some exciting new mortgage affordability changes. Halifax have recently, like most other lenders, tightened their purse strings as a result of both the covid-19 pandemic and also the economic crisis. In...
Rate Watch – Changes From Virgin & HSBC
In this brief mortgage rate watch article, we will be taking a look at some recent updates and communications coming from mortgage lenders this week. The first week and a bit of February 2023 has been an interesting one to watch as a mortgage broker and as potential...
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...
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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If you have any questions about UK mortgage news or anything you’ve read then please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.












