Banking & Personal Finance > Mortgage Lenders

Advantages: You get what you need out of them
Disadvantages: Obscenely high interest rates, no reward for loyalty.

...We were directed to Kensington via a local Broker, which I have now learnt to be probably more to do with their high rate of commision to the broker and little to do with our own personal circumstances. The most they would offer us was £60,000 despite the value of the house being £30,000 more. This was largely due to the absolutey massacred state of my partners credit rating because of the joint finances the ex left her paying..... and the fact ...
...By the time all the kinks were ironed out, including removal of a charge on the house thanks to the cursed ex, we were relatively happy to have settled, had enough left over for the rest of the double glazing and a fixed rate of 5% over one year. We also had to arrange our own buildings and contents insurance, and refused to accept their life insurance policy as another way of earning our broker commission and paying them even more money than we ... Read review

Advantages: Friendly service and quick response
Disadvantages: Need to hold or leave message when call

This is the very first time I take motgage and here is somthing about LBS which may help you. Service: I found their service is very friendly. Customer service rep is very easy to talk to. If they say they will reply you then they will which I am very happy about. Sometime I put my quey on letter and guess what, yes, they would reply me back as well very queickly. Products: I took my motgage through a motegate advisor. To be honest, the administration ...
...when choose a package, make sure you consider the administration fee. There are many packages you can choose from. I am sure there is no need to list them as you can find all the detail on their website. A bit experience with the adviser: Be carefull when choose Mortgage adviser. I used one to whom I paid nearly £300 but end up with some wrong information. There are many of them free of charge which worth giving a go! good Luck! ... Read review

Advantages: Mutual so best interest of customers(members)
Disadvantages: Not fully flexible

...with no direct contact with Nationwide but I did set up to access our mortgage a/c online which is straightforward, you register and they send you relevant details. Interest is calculated daily and you can make overpayments of upto £500 per calender month without incurring any charges for early repayment. Any overpayments can be drawn back out when you wish which is a good way of saving as interest is calculated daily. Tie ins last as long as ...
...up the phone and called Nationwide to see if they could match or better the Halifax offer. And they did! Saving me money on legal fees because the lender would not be changing, valuation fees as the house had already been valued and as an existing customer, they knocked £200 off the product reservation fee. I also was able to request extra money for home improvements and this was dealt with in a manner where I knew they were looking at our circumstances ... Read review

Advantages: significant potential savings, mortgage repaid quicker, superb service
Disadvantages: need to be very disciplined money wise

***History*** In 1997 The Royal Bank of Scotland and Virgin Direct formed a joint venture and marketed "The Virgin One" to Virgin Direct's 200,000 customers and it was an immediate hit and so in 1998 it was marketed to the general public for the first time. Since then it has continued to be a huge hit. In 2003 it became known as "The One Account" and Virgin were no longer involved. From the regular TV ads and poster campaigns most people will have ...
...to note here is that the VISA is not an official credit card and therefore you do not get payment protection afforded by standard credit cards. It is unclear why but must be something to do with the legalities of the account. The idea being that you can manage all your finances under one account, make your money work harder and actually reduce the amount of interest you pay over the term of the facility by off setting your savings against your borrowings ... Read review

Advantages: Save on tax and interest payments, payment holidays, withdrawl overpayments, interest calculated daily
Disadvantages: Not the most competitive interest rate

The Egg Saver Mortgage offers the ability to reduce your interest payments, and hence reduce your mortgage outstanding, by offsetting your savings against your mortgage. That is, instead of receiving interest on your savings at a low savings rate, you reduce the interest paid on your mortgage (at the usually higher mortgage interest rate). A simple example, based on an interest only mortgage, illustrates this. If you have a mortgage of £50,000 and ...
...of £2,100. With the Egg Saver Mortgage, the £10,000 would be paid into an offset savings account that pays no interest. Instead the £10,000 savings would reduce the amount of your mortgage on which interest is paid to £40,000 (your mortgage would still be £50,000) reducing the interest payment to £2,000 in the year. As interest on savings is taxable, and reducing your interest payments on your mortgage is not taxable, offsetting your mortgage also ... Read review