Natwest & RBS Lower Interest Rates
October 11, 2008
Following the Bank of England’s decision earlier this week to drop the base interest rate by 0.5 per cent, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Natwest have followed suit and lowered their interest rates by 0.5 per cent on their Offset Flexible mortgages.
The RBS will be implementing this change Read more
Preparing for your exam
October 10, 2008
No matter what exam you are preparing for, whether it’s your CeMAP, CeRER, CeFA exam or something else entirely, there are a few standard checks to make sure you’re prepared before the exam:
- Photo ID: for these exams, you will need to take some photographic identification, such as your drivers license or your passport, so don’t forget it or you won’t be able to take the exam at all!
- If you need glasses, make sure you get them ready and don’t forget them. Sitting for a couple of hours in front of a computer, straining your eyes at the screen can hurt and give you a headache, which will not help your concentration. If you think you might need a new eye test, get it done as soon as possible
- Make sure you know exactly where the exam centre is, especially if you didn’t book the exam at your local centre. Not only that, but make sure you know where you can park and have some change with you for the car park ticket
- Leave yourself plenty of time to get to the exam centre on the day; you don’t want to have to rush and panic
- Last but not least, take a deep breath. You did the training, you learnt the subject, just take your time and good luck
Bank of England Cuts Interest Rates Under Pressure
October 9, 2008
Every month, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee meets to set the base interest rate for our economy and yesterday they had that meeting.
The MPC was no doubt feeling the pressure as experts Read more
Is this the end of Buy to Let Mortgages?
October 8, 2008
Bradford & Bingley were one of, if not the leading, mortgage provider when it came to buy-to-let mortgages, but with their recent troubles, they have now taken the decision to withdraw all of their buy to let mortgage products for the time being and with this decision, it is likely that the number of buy to let products will decrease even further as they become a more specialist area.
Their withdrawal, albeit temporary, from the market has prompted smaller rivals to re-consider their products and in many cases, re-price them.
However, this does not Read more
CeMAP Exam Tips
October 7, 2008
Each week, we’ll be giving you one or two tips to help you pass your CeMAP exam. After all, once you’ve done the
CeMAP training, you know your subject, but many people worry incessantly about the exam. A lot of people suffer with exam nerves, and you shouldn’t worry too much about it. Just get in there, take a deep breath and follow our top tips for CeMAP success:
- It sounds really Read more
Why Become A Mortgage Advisor?
October 6, 2008
It is difficult to decide what profession we should enter and for many people, they only make that decision when they see somebody else doing a job and think ‘hey, I’d like to do that’.
Watching a mortgage advisor, whether in a bank, building society, estate agents or an independent mortgage advisor in an office or even in your own home, the job might look quite simple, certainly well-paid and it is easy to forget the hard work it took them to get there.
Doing your CeMAP training and taking the exams is only the first step in unlocking the door to this profession. The first step is to take the CeMAP exams, which can be taken in a town local to you, and the second is then to get your Competent Advisor Status, which can take anything from 4-12 months and involves on-the-job training.
So why should one become a mortgage advisor?
Once you’ve Read more
Location, Location, Location!
October 5, 2008
It’s the old adage when buying any property; it’s the location that matters as the properties in the best locations will tend to increase in price faster than those in poor locations, so be sure to choose by location, location, location. That’s the title of the property show starring Phil Spencer and Kirsty Allsopp where house hunters are shown properties with a hope of looking to buy. Phil and Kirsty would seek out the best properties that fitted in with the person’s budget and ones that hopefully ticked all of the boxes in terms of what they’re looking for.
The idea of the programme is to help people limited budgets look for properties that fulfil their needs and are within their budget.
Frequently in the show people found that they just couldn’t afford what they wanted in the location that they wanted, but due to Phil and Kirsty’s knowledge and persistence they’re often Read more
Introducing New Mortgage Lenders: Tesco & Virgin
October 4, 2008
Both supermarket giant Tesco and Richard Branson’s Virgin Group have announced they believe the time is right for the mortgage market to be opened up to new lenders as several brands are reducing the number of mortgage deals they offer.
Last year, when Northern Rock was experiencing trouble, Virgin showed an interest in the mortgage market and made a bid to takeover Northern Rock, however, their bid was rejected and in February the ailing bank was nationalised.
Now, Virgin seems determined to Read more
Light at the end of the credit crunch?
October 3, 2008
After much debate and back-and-forthing, the United States politicians have finally announced that they have agreed to put together a new rescue packaging to rescue their troubled banks. According to George Bush, this should help them put an end to their side of the credit crunch.
The decision is backed by both Republicans and the Democrats. The US Treasury will be spending billions of pounds in buying the bad debts from the banking system.
Bush has been urging the lawmakers to support this decision for a couple of weeks now, even dragging the current presidential candidates in to support him. The bill requires final approval from both Congress houses though and his initial attempt failed.
The intervention will be the largest intervention in the financial markets in history, since the Great Depression of the 1930′s but it seems it may be necessary to avoid years of depression and economic decline.
According to George Bush, the new bill will show the world that the US is serious about saving and restoring their financial markets. In a recent statement, he said:
“This bill provides the necessary tools and funding to help protect our economy against a system-wide breakdown.”
Everything the US does has a huge impact on the UK, and if confidence is restored in their financial markets, it will have great implications for ours too.
445 Mortgage Deals Removed From Market
October 2, 2008
The Times newspaper reported this week that 445 mortgage deals were removed from the market as mortgage lenders cut the number of mortgage deals on offer.
Apparently, this exodus of mortgage deals is partly caused as the government announced the delay of a long-anticipated report on the turmoil of the mortgage market, in which they are expecting to see Read more
