Rates drop and Over 65s enquiries on the up!

Although the majority of mortgage pundits and industry experts are expecting a rate rise towards the end of 2014, or possibly early 2015, at the moment rates are decreasing! There is an apparent rate price war currently in full flow and most lenders are taking part!

Just in the last few days, we've seen Virgin Money reduce some fixed rates by up to 0.26%,  Accord reduce some products by up to 0.40%, Woolwich reduce some products by 0.24%, Halifax reduced some by 0.20%, NatWest decreased some rates by a respectable 0.64%, and hats off to Nationwide who reduced selected rates by a huge 0.70%!

All of these have created a stir in the market place.  It's great for the end consumer and activity is currently high. 

With this in mind, August was a superb month for New Business for AToM and I'd like to thank everyone who has used us to assist with their mortgage requirements.  We've had some fantastic challenges and some great accomplishments in helping arrange mortgage finance for a variety of property types and people!  Do explore all options available to you before signing on the dotted line.

Finally, we have recently noticed an increase in mortgage enquiries for those over the age of 65.   Normally, a high street lender will allow a mortgage term to last until the applicants usual retirement age.  This used to be 65, officially it's now 67, but the reality is it can be much later.  As such, most lenders increased their maximum age at the end of mortgage maturity to age 70.  However, we all know that people are working a lot longer now and repayment of such a large amount of money may not be possible in these restrictive conditions.  So the option is to raise further finance to repay the original loan or sell the property.  Thankfully, the first option is less onerous as it used to be.  Many non household name lenders will look at lending to customers a lot later in life, assuming the customers can prove their continued ability to pay.   This can take the maturity age up to age 80, 85 or even 90 and above.  If the customer has a good amount of income, a good amount of equity in the property and can satisfy the lenders affordability requirements, then a lender should be happy to lend.  Seek specialist advice.