The best new mortgages

Jul 24, 2012

Share with
friends:

Comments (0) Print this article

HSBC has captured the headlines by launching Britain’s lowest fixed-rate mortgage, allowing homeowners to borrow at 2.99% for five years. It’s an excellent headline rate that easily beats the next best rate in the market, which is 3.69%.

However, don’t get too excited. It’s only available to buyers with 40% deposits – or at least that much equity (the estimated sales value less any mortgage) – in their house. That will put it out of reach of most first-time buyers, meaning it will do little to stimulate the lifeless housing market.

At £1,499, the arrangement fee is also a lot steeper than most rivals are offering. And even if you can afford the fee
and have the necessary deposit, you may still not get the mortgage. Several mortgage brokers have reported that “perfectly credit-worthy clients” have been rejected by HSBC.

If you can’t meet HSBC’s tough criteria, Nottingham Building Society may be the place to go. It offers a five-year fixed rate mortgage at 3.69%, with a £1,499 fee. The rate is not as competitive as HSBC’s, but you only need a deposit of 25% to qualify.

Comments (0)

Share with
friends:

Related articles

Leave a comment

This will be the name displayed with your comment.

This helps us verify comments are genuine. It will not be displayed anywhere on the site and is stored confidentially.

Please keep your comment within 1,000 characters and relevant to the main topic. We encourage healthy debate, but we don't allow insults or bad language. Anything off topic or unpleasant, we'll remove. Enjoy the conversation! Thank you.

captcha To prevent spam-related comments please enter the characters shown in the 'Captcha' box to the left.

By leaving a comment you accept our terms and conditions.


>