Halifax Mortgages

Advantages: good for 1st time buyers
Disadvantages: did not offer a good rate after fixed term ended, overcharge customers

...when the time came for me to get on the property ladder, it would make it easier to get a mortgage if I already had an account with them. So the time came in 2001 when my now husband and I went to Halifax for our first mortgage. We chose Halifax as they were very competitive at the time and offered the best interest rate for first time buyers and my initial experience with them was great. We had a couple of meetings with a Halifax Financial Adviser who explained our repayment options and after providing what seemed like endless amounts of pay slips, P60s and payment details, in a matter of a 2 months our mortgage was being processed. I have to say that we were very lucky to buy our house at the right time, as the property market was in our favour and house prices were no way as high as they have risen to today. We had been...

sweetdaisy 21.10.2006 (19.08.2007) · Read review
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Review of Halifax Mortgages

Finding the best mortgage deal

Advantages: make a better mortgage choice
Disadvantages:

...Where to find advice and information for finding the best mortgage deal. There is a dizzying array of mortgage deals and offers available and it is very easy to become confused about what exactly to look for, who offers the best deal and what extra costs you are likely to face so just where should you start? I want to be clear from the beginning that this article is not designed to advise you on a specific product but rather to help you think about what you want from a mortgage and how to locate the information you need to get some expert financial advice. What do you want from your mortgage? Perhaps the most important thing to identify is what you want in a mortgage do you wanted to have a regular idea of your monthly payments in which case pursuing a fixed rate mortgage may be appealing, or perhaps you are happy to risk...

tastymorsel 08.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Member Advice on Choosing a mortgage

Mortgages, Mortgages & Mortgages

Advantages: Not many unless you like parting with ££££
Disadvantages: Loads of errors, poor communication

...principle, they then said this had changed and we were advised in writing. We then asked for a copy of the letter, which they couldn't produce, after much too-ing and frow-ing, the stood their ground and threatend not to release funds until we paid it, we had to, otherwise we really would have been homeless for a few days. So, not off on the best foot. Our mortgage started and we had very little trouble from them for the first few months, then THEY cancelled our direct debit and charged us £57 for the trouble. We were eventually refunded to our mortgage account, but it took 3 months for them to do this. We found it really hard to communicate with them, it was either they didn't understand what you wanted them to do ( refund us!) or the right person wasn't there or the computers were down or they had training sessions, it was really hard to...

memphisto_chick 12.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of Mortgages Plc

First Direct Offset Mortgage

Advantages: First Direct - great offset mortgage
Disadvantages: Too easy to access the equity in your home!

...The first thing that attracted me to a First Direct (a division of HSBC Bank plc) offset lifetime tracker mortgage was that it was listed at the top of the 'best buy' tables on moneysupermarket.com. A quick search revealed that it had also been voted the best lender for customer service in the Which? Money survey on mortgages 2008. This was the second year running that First Direct had come out on top. With a score of 90% first direct was 11% ahead of its nearest rival in the survey of 18 lenders. First Directs mortgages have won numerous awards over the years, the most recent being What Mortgage Magazine's winner of Best Direct Lender over 5 Years (February 2007). In January 2009 their offset mortgage was one of the lowest rates on the market. Although I was not actually looking to remortgage at this stage because I still had nine...

Krazikas 28.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages

Open Plan Mortgage - The best on the market

Advantages: Great Value, Flexible and Interest Rate Limited
Disadvantages: They need to supply one number to call

...I've had a Barclays Open Plan Mortgage for over a year now, and in my opinion its the best thing since sliced bread. An overview for those who don't know about it. The Open Plan mortgage enables you to off set the balance of any other Barclays account you have (current or savings) against the total of you mortgage. This means that if you have 2,000 in a savings account, you don't pay the interest on 2,000 of your mortgage. A simple concept that can save a large amount of money, if you are not familiar with the mortgage then I would strongly encourage people to have a look at their web site. Getting going: You have to have your current account with Barclays for this mortgage to work (Transfering of accounts I cannot comment on, as I already had a Barclays account). I rang the local office to make an appointment when I was...

rhudson1 10.07.2003 · Read review
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Review of Barclays Bank Mortgages

mortgage

Advantages: none
Disadvantages: very expensive and our always delaying by 2 months plus ? joining they interest rate drop

...hi every one heres the snag iv got 2 mortgages kensington & capital home loans kensingtons mortgage £233.000 im paying £833 a month capital home loans £296. 500 im paying £433.00 a month im also in a tied in for 3 years with kensington wich ends in december thank god £14000 charge if id of sold before my 3 year contract ended as plus they dont allow you un der no circumstances to be able to draw down off your property no matter how much equity you.v got also there lack off comunication . so in a nut shell big deposit ? high rates compared to other lenders? impossible to draw down ? and if you should lose your job ,and youv built a lovley extension on your house your shnucked, they cant even get repossetion prices.{1} my advice dont go self cert .{ 2} if you.v got a big deposit keep hold off it and rent why 'buying is dead money...

BOOTSO 02.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Kensington Mortgage Company

  DESIGN your Mortgage INTELLIGENTLY....

Advantages: flexible, available for 95% mortgages, interest calculated daily, no arrangement fee, no indemnity premium, no tie in period, online/ telephone 24hrs
Disadvantages: lacks personal touch, not available for 100% mortgages, (mortgage deeds not stored), may not suit older persons i.e. up to 65 years due to age restrictions

...! Anybody remember those awful things?!!!) Or you can set up a combination of both these options. I opted for the repayment type. At time of writing Intelligent Finance still has a variable rate of 4.85% (4.9% APR), which is still discounted to 3.35% for the first 3 months of my mortgage, after that it reverts to whatever the variable rate is. This is a good incentive in that it gives you a bit of breathing space to sort your finances out at a busy time of moving when so many other fees need to be paid. The best thing however is that interest is calculated daily (not monthly). With my last mortgage lender (Northern Rock) the interest was calculated monthly and even though I sold my house at the beginning of a month I had to pay the mortgage for the whole month end as that’s how the older type mortgages work. Initially you are...

Connoisseur_Haggler 30.12.2002 (02.01.2003) · Read review
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Review of Intelligent Finance Mortgages

Kensington Mortgages

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

...I took over a mortgage with my partner in 2005 following her messy divorce and our of desperation with all the debts her ex left her. 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 I was only on a modest full time wage (NHS!) 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...

jedimasterlincoln 21.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Kensington Mortgage Company

Woolwich Open Plan Mortgages

Advantages: Payoff chunks of mortgage whenever you want. Offsetting saving accounts, interest calaculated daily
Disadvantages: Can be tempted to borrow to the max

...We've had a Woolwich Open Plan mortgage for just over seven years. On the whole we have been very satisfied. The mortgage work by allowing you to set up a number of accounts and under Woolwich a number of saving pots, ie mini accounts that cannot be overdrawn, which can be offset agai9nst the mortgage. In simple terms this means all of these funds are taken off the mortgage total and interest is then calculated on the result. We set up pots for a new car, holiday and for a small inheritance, which was to be used by our daughter to help her through university. We also had a reserve that is an extra amount of money that we could borrow at the mortgage rate. In our case this was around £20,000. As you npay off the mortgage this amount increases. We now have an overdraft facility of around £70,000. While the acount...

odtaa 07.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Woolwich Mortgages

Future Mortgages - a misunderstood lender

Advantages: An excellent sub prime lender with very competative rates
Disadvantages: They only deal with brokers or mortgage packagers

...Having read every review on this site for Future Mortgages I immediately became disturbed at the reactions and negative feedback that so many people have had towards this particular mortgage lender. However, after digesting each review it became apparent to me that, although they are from personal opinion, and of course, we are all entitled to our opinions, I felt they were unfairly directed towards the mortgage company itself. Many of the complaints were focusing on the high rates and other criteria offered by Future Mortgages, but it seems that the fact they are a sub prime mortgage lender has been forgotten. Sub prime mortgage companies do offer rates higher and sometimes considerably higher than the high street rates as their customer base is made up of people with current or historical adverse credit history. Many people...

Pixie1979 05.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Future Mortgages