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

A great lender

Advantages: Affordable and wonderfully flexible
Disadvantages: They make money from you, they all do.

...As the last mutual building societies are swallowed up by the banks, the Nationwide remains a very proud mutual. In order to avoid carpet-bagging if you take a mortagage with them you now have to sign a form to say that if it is bought by a bank then you will hand your windfall over to charity. This is in the hope that people would vote against a takeover. So, ethically, they have some good ideas. Mortgage-wise they have won the Which? Best Mortgage award several times over. They are currently in the Independent Newspaper's top 3 lenders and savers for year 2000. Whatever your mortgage needs, chances are that Nationwide have a deal for you. Also, they have less tie-in restrictions than most others. As one of the largest lenders in the market place, I strongle recommend that you get a quote from Nationwide, or ask your broker to...

Motley 26.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Nationwide Building Society Mortgages

Remortgaging to another lender from Portman

Advantages: Good customer service, upfront about all fees
Disadvantages: Charges for redemption statements

...I am writing numerous reviews on mortgage lenders similar to this review as I am giving an inside respective on how certain lenders treat their customers and how their processes work in regard to repaying your mortgage. I do not own this product, but work to remortgage Portman Building Society mortgages on an everyday basis. The Portman are generally quite efficient when it comes to the process of you wishing to remortgage, but there are a few points that people must take note of when repaying their mortgage. Early repayment charges which apply when you wish to repay your mortgage within your fixed term tend to be very high with the Portman in relation to the size of your mortgage. Obviously they are a percentage of your mortgage, but the percentage (I cannot tell you what this in a numerical format, simply check your original...

heavenlie 28.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Portman Building Society Mortgages

A MORTGAGE LENDER LIVing UP TO ITS NAME

Advantages: Flexible, cheap, helpful and efficient
Disadvantages: It wasn't around a year ago when I needed it then!

...Indemnity Guarantee (MIG), no arrangement fee, and a valuation cost us a whopping £1. We also got £350 Cashback. This was on a repayment basis, so there was also an element of stability attached to the loan. So why am I moving my mortgage to another lender? Because I discovered Intelligent Finance (IF), or rather a very nice Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) made the introductions – some are nice, honest! IF, as most of us are aware by now, are part of the Halifax group, so they have quite a substantial backing, and I believe this helps when it comes to trusting them with the biggest loan in my life (well at the moment anyway!). (I should let you all know now, that our new loan is on an interest only basis not repayment, but I shall include the figure that we are going to be paying into an ISA in order to cover the mortgage so...

nicci13 25.06.2001 · Read review
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Review of Intelligent Finance Mortgages

Stiil a good lender even after becoming PLC

Advantages: v.helpful staff, not pushy, objective,informative, lots of mortgage options, good website
Disadvantages: loss of mutual status

...Up until last July the B&B had been a mutual for as many years as I care to remember. I took out a £45k repayment mortgage with them at the end of 1999 in order to buy my first ever home. It was a difficult decision for a first time buyer to put one's faith in one of these big mortgage lenders. And it took an awful lot of homework, advice, checking websites, facts, figures and the all-important small print in order to decide on the best lender & deal that suited my needs. After initially trying out 4 or 5 other banks & building societies I felt more comfortable with the B&B. The people there are very friendly and not pushy at all. Even their resident Independent Financial Adviser kept a very objective view of what would suit me best that the B&B didn't necessary offer a good deal on - specifically, building insurance, sick...

Sonatine 07.01.2001 · Read review
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Review of Bradford & Bingley Building Society Mortgages

Good all round lender

Advantages: Good range of loans, mimimal fees.
Disadvantages: Not enough telephone contact - too much paperwork

...We took out a mortgage with the Cheshire in February and so far everything has gone well. We were looking for a few things in a lender, most importantly, no extended tie-ins at the end of any discount period. The Cheshire fulfilled this requirement, but so do many others. What probably swayed us was the lack of fees that the Cheshire charges - no arrangement fee, no valuation fee and they also paid the solicitors fee as we were remortgaging. Now we are moving we are taking out the additional money with the Cheshire on a flexible mortgage so that it can be paid off early without penalties. The only drawback is that we have to go through the application process again with more forms to fill in. With a good range of loans available and the absence of fees (on most of their range) we have found the Cheshire, overall, to be a good...

mpainter 30.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of Cheshire Building Society Mortgages

Neither a borrower nor a lender be...

Advantages: takes control of your debts
Disadvantages: none

......

steerpyke 14.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of Churchwood Finance Ltd

Bait and Switch - AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!

Advantages: May approve you for credit when others won't
Disadvantages: There are the most evil Sub-Prime credit card in the country - AVOID!!!

...than the minimum due. He has a balance of £1,600 which is going down but very slowly as they are charging nearly £100 a month interest. He's been approved for a much lower rate card, 20-something% I think, but only with a £500 limit. So Vanquis has helped him get a better credit score, but he's stuck with them now because other lenders are being stingy with credit limits. I myself have just become a customer of Vanquis as I've just been discharged from Bankruptcy, they gave me £250 with 39.9% APR, but with what's happened to him I'll be closing the account in favour of an Aqua card which I have been approved for. AVOID THEM. TRY FOR AQUA or CAPITAL ONE CLASSIC INSTEAD!!!...

izools 12.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Vanquis Credit Card

Woolwich Buy to Let schemes

Advantages: Portable mortgage with excellent customer service
Disadvantages: APR not the most competitive

...I'd like to pass on my positive comments to all with regards to the Woolwich Buy to Let mortgage scheme. Whilst most buy to let lenders just want to look at multiples of income:expenditure ratios and base the lending decision simply on maths, the Woolwich will actually work with you to safeguard your interests (and ultimately theirs!) in a logical step by step approach. I have found that they also provide the best customer service and their staff are very knowledgable about the product range. There are a number of schemes available, fixed, capped and discounted tracker and each option can be discussed in depth at time of application. Lending muliples can also be flexed by varying the rates by those under different schemes. The ultimate bonus is that the mortgage is portable - spmething that a lot of lenders do not offer...

bounty 27.05.2001 · Read review
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Review of Woolwich Mortgages

The wacky loan-zone

Advantages: Easy to use, excellent rates, cut out the banks
Disadvantages: Some longer term rates can be less competitive for borrowers

...What's good about a Personal Loan? If all the junk mail and newspaper ads from the big banks are to be believed, a Personal Loan is a great product that everyone should have! In reality, the best thing is usually receiving the money, and buying your big-ticket item or paying off those debts... it's rarely the loan itself, but that is about to change, thanks to Zopa. Zopa (short for the "Zone of Possible Agreement") is an online exchange offering savers the chance to lend money to borrowers in a safe and straightforward way. Savers wanting to earn a higher rate of interest than they might get from a bank can pay money into Zopa and offer it to potential borrowers at rates and terms (length of time of the loan) that suit them. Borrowers can similarly be matched to these lenders. The beauty of the system is this - your...

andyev 10.04.2007 (20.04.2007) · Read review
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Review of Zopa Loans