Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
How Much Can I Borrow for a Mortgage in the UK in 2026?
Find out how much you can borrow for a mortgage in the UK based on income, deposit and lender affordability rules.
Nationwide Helping Hand Mortgage Explained: Borrow Up to 6× Income
Learn how the Nationwide Helping Hand mortgage works and how eligible first-time buyers may be able to borrow up to 6× income.
What Salary Do I Need for a £200k Mortgage in the UK?
Discover what salary you typically need for a £200k mortgage in the UK, including lender income multiples and affordability examples.
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.
Cancer & Life Insurance Case Study
Our client’s mother had breast cancer in the past and she wanted to make sure that she was covered in case she too developed cancer. A straight forward life insurance application turned out to be quite difficult as the majority of insurance companies excluded cancer meaning that they would not cover a potential future cancer diagnosis for the clients.
Decline in Help To Buy applications evident
Since 2013 the government in conjunction with house builders has offered the Help to Buy scheme which was developed with the intention of helping struggling prospective home buyers to fund the purchase of a new build property. Initially the scheme was set to run until 2020 but was slightly restructured and extended until 2023. The scheme was an instant hit and people flocked in their thousands to make the most of a really incredible helping hand.
Interest in shared ownership rising
For many years, shared ownership was a rather specialist and quite uncommon means of purchase as most people understandably want to purchase an entire property rather than part of a property! However, as house prices have increased by 4.3% on average every year since 2011, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to both save enough deposit to buy a property and earn enough money to meet the mortgage lending required to purchase a whole property.
Deposit unlock scheme gives new hope for home buyers
Over the last few years there has been a lot of talk around deposits or, more specifically, the struggles that new buyers go through to save a deposit. With banks and building societies restricting lending and becoming seemingly more demanding when it comes to customer cash contributions, new buyers have become disillusioned with the whole idea and feel penalised by banks, building societies and home sellers in favour of older, more experienced purchasers.
New Build – Answering questions you need to know
The UK government has pledged to try and build 300,000 new homes every year by the mid-2020s. In this blog we will go through some of the most common questions people have when they first start looking at new build homes.
Clients with credit issues are rejected by their bank
Our clients were looking to buy a property together and had put in an offer which had been accepted. Thinking it would probably be the easiest option, they went direct to their own bank to seek a new mortgage however our clients had some financial difficulty in the past and as a result they had defaults and missed payments on their credit files. When their bank ran a credit check on the clients it failed due to the adverse credit in the background and their bank was unable to offer them a mortgage.
Shared Ownership Misinformation Case Study
Our client and her partner found an ideal property through a large house builder on a shared ownership basis and was looking forward to the prospect of owning her first real home. However, despite the excitement they both felt, they were also extremely nervous as she had been told plenty of conflicting information about the best way of getting a mortgage by the builder, her friends, and her own internet research.
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