Northern Rock confirms 1,300 job cuts

Northern Rock has completed its redundancy talks with staff and confirmed 1,300 jobs have been cut. The nationalised bank is attempting to streamline its operations and cut costs in order to weather the credit crunch and repay its taxpayer loans.
Northern Rock confirmed 500 staff have taken up voluntary redundancy, while a further 800 were compulsory [...]

Yorkshire sees fixed rate applications double

Borrowers coming to the end of two and three-year mortgage deals have been increasingly staying on their lender’s standard variable rate because the new fixed and tracker rate options were proving too expensive.
Since rates have started to nudge down however there are increasing signs that the attitude of borrowers is changing as they select new [...]

Families unable to help financially

Families are increasingly unable to help each other out, according to research from the Chelsea Building Society.
The society surveyed over 1000 family members and found that while 59% of people are willing to help their families – almost 30% are unable to do so due to the rising cost of living.
Families are countering this inability [...]

Abbey unveils new low fee mortgage range

On 1 September, Abbey is introducing a new product range of deals with a £499 fee. The low fee deals are available to customers borrowing up to £250,000 and up to 60% loan to value.
The low fee range includes a two-year tracker mortgage at 5.94%; a two-year fixed at 5.79% and a three-year fixed rate mortgage at [...]

£26.7m loss posted by Bradford & Bingley

Bradford & Bingley has reported a £26.7 million pretax loss for the first half of 2008.
The UK’s largest buy to let lender said bad debts were continuing to rise.
The board continues to be cautious on the economy and trading and expects the trends in arrears and net interest margin to continue.
Mortgages three months or more [...]

Mortgage fraud whistleblowers wanted by FSA

The FSA is calling on the mortgage broker community to help it tackle mortgage fraud.
As part of its attempts to crackdown on fraud, the regulator is publishing new guidance for mortgage brokers and hopes they will co-operate to help it deal with the problem.
The FSA says brokers are responsible for reporting any suspicions they have [...]

House prices plunge 10.5%

House prices are falling at their fastest rate since 1990, when Britain was in the grip of a major economic downturn. The Nationwide’s latest house price index has shown double digit falls for the first time a year after the onset of the credit crunch.
The value of the typical British home fell 1.9% between July [...]

Consumers back financial ‘Weight Watchers’

Consumers want simplified and motivational choices when selecting savings products, like a financial version of ‘Weight Watchers’, according to research by Aegon. The provider is calling on the FSA to take account of what consumers want from financial advisers, as it moves ahead with its advice reform agenda with the RDR.
Its research, based on sessions [...]

HIP provider OpenBook forced to close

Home information pack provider OpenBook has confirmed it will be winding down operations and shutting down the business at the end of this week.
OpenBook is the second HIP provider to meet its demise in the space of a fortnight following the news last week that Hipstar has been placed into administration.
OpenBook has until now touted [...]

Mayfair offers below market value bridging product

Mayfair Bridging has launched a new product called BMV Bridge.
It is designed for below market value (BMV) purchases and offers 100% of the purchase price within 65% LTV for investment residential property and 60% LTV for commercial property.
Director Shoaib Bux said: “BMV Bridge takes advantage of the discount received on a property purchase and offers [...]