Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
Why High Earners Are Often Under-Assessed By Mortgage Lenders
Many people assume that earning a high salary automatically means getting approved for a large mortgage is straightforward. In reality, some of the highest earners we speak to often face the biggest frustrations when it comes to borrowing. At Oportfolio Mortgages, we...
Your Personal Insurance Questions Answered
When it comes to protecting your finances, your family, and your home, it’s completely normal to have questions about personal insurance. From life cover and critical illness policies to income protection, many people are unsure what they actually need, or whether...
How We Helped a London Buyer Secure a £1.4 Million Mortgage Using Multiple Income Streams (Case Study)
Discover how Oportfolio Mortgages helped a London buyer secure a £1.4 million mortgage using multiple income streams including salary, bonus, and investment income.
Confidence Returns But ‘Little Chance’ Of Drop In Mortgage Rates
Following a press release this morning given by the new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, confidence has returned slightly to the market. But many don't think that this will cause any drop in mortgage rates to occur. Jeremy Hunt, the newly appointed...
Buyers Willing To Pay More For Energy Efficient Homes
A report issued out to the public yesterday by mortgage lender Santander shows that an increasing number of property purchasers are willing to pay more for energy efficient homes as the increased costs to heat and power a property starts to impact the general...
Over Half Of Mortgages Coming To An End Within 3-Years
For most mortgage borrowers, the sensible thing to do has been to fix your mortgage product and rate for a certain period of time. Most lenders will offer products that you can fix for 2, 3, 5 or 10 years. Fixing your mortgage rate means that you will have confidence...
Cost Of Variable Rate Mortgage Increases
Recent research has shown that the average monthly cost of a variable rate mortgage, in comparison to the more commonly utilised fixed rate mortgage, has increased by 13.3% and is only likely to increase as rates jump up and up. What Is A Variable Rate...
Virgin Money Raises Residential and Buy-To-Let Products
Virgin Money, the banking arm of Richard Branson's Virgin Group have been the latest in a swarm of mortgage lenders to announce new rate increases to their residential and buy-to-let products. In recent weeks and months, mortgage lenders have been bumping up...
Santander Back To 95% Mortgage Lending
Santander have announced that they will now be offering mortgage products of up to 95% LTV, or mortgage products where the borrower will only need to contribute a 5% deposit. This re-introduction of 95% mortgage lending by Santander is a huge game changer for...
Are Rising Mortgage Costs Bringing House Prices Down?
"Rising mortgage costs mean significant house price drop is inevitable", claims economic research organisation Capital Economics in their recently released report on the state of the housing market. Is a significant reduction in house prices really on the way...
Is It Worth Paying A Penalty And Securing A New Mortgage Deal?
Your current fixed mortgage deal might not be up for renewal anytime soon, but is it worth biting the bullet and paying the lender's early redemption penalty to secure a new mortgage deal now? Last week the mortgage market fell into chaos as lenders started...
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...
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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.












