BUT - did you know? Under FSA regulation a Broker can call himself Whole of Market whilst actually searching and recommending very few lenders, possibly as little as 5 or less!!!!

Thats bcause the FSA definition of Whole of Market is recommending from lenders that offer products and services from the A-Z of the market place. They don’t specify a number. HMMM!!! thats not our way and its allows some Brokers to be less than open and honest.

So ALWAYS make sure you are 100% sure your broker ACTUALLY uses a wide range of lenders. BETTER STILL choose one that takes EVERY lender into account EVEN the lenders who don’t accept broker relationships - ie HSBC, Britannia, EGG et al.

At Gift Wrapped Mortgages (Cheltenham) we are as honest and ethical as we would expect someone to be with us - even if it means we don’t benefit financially from it.

Always choose someone you can rely on.

Gift Wrapped Mortgages (Cheltenham), House Purchase, Remortgages, Buy to Let, Self Certification, Shared Ownership, Sub Prime (arrears, CCJ’s, IVA, poor credit rating, etc).

We don’t breeze in your door and breeze out with a signed application. We take time to really get to know you and your needs, developing a real trusted relationship for the future.

There are still mortgage brokers out there who can help you.

Based in Gloucestershire, Gift Wrapped Mortgages (Cheltenham.Bishops Cleeve) have real mortgage experience helping customers all over the country. We concentrate our core business in a 50 mile radius of Cheltenham.

Let us help you through the mortgage maze, holding your hand step by step. Ensuring you fully understand everything and its right for you.

If you are thinking of a remortgage, there are still lots of opportunities out there. Please don’t leave yourself on your lenders high variable rate. Don’t bury your head in the sand waiting for things to get better, protect your family now.

The mortgage market was starting to ease, with cheaper deals beginning to come along, but last week’s turmoil kiboshed that. Banks now charge huge interest to lend to each other and this could add 0.25% to the cost of new fixed rates. Why act now? Lenders usually sell fixed rate deals in tranches, say £100m worth, and only reprice once they’re sold out (though some are being withdrawn early), so for the next few days you may still be able to grab one. The Autumn is traditionally the time when lenders look to make a last”pitch” to hit annual lending targets so its often a time of competition in the market place and a chance to bag a better deal!

Or you could look to book ahead if your current deal isn’t due to finish for a several months : It’s sometimes possible to reserve a deal even up to 6 mths ahead, though 3 months is more usual. To do this you pay a non-refundable booking fee, e.g. £100 (separate to the arrangement fee). If things get worse, you’ve done well; if they get cheaper, get a new deal and you’ve only lost the fee.

Is this the death knell for C&G as a lending name?

Be careful when choosing a product that looks good on the face of it.  The best mortgage interest rates NOW attract the HIGHEST arrangement fees.  Because most of these fees are so high many people opt to add the fee to the debt (not everyone has £2-3,000 spare).  If you add the fee on it increases the overall cost of the mortgage slightly in the short term but massively in the long term.  

UK mortgage lender rates v fees - make sure the sums add up. 

Don’t forget the interest that needs to be paid on the fee added to the loan.  So if you intend to stay with your lender its important to consider upping your payments in the short term to ensure the fee is paid early.  But then off course you might just find that in real terms its no cheaper than another rate that does not have such heavy set up fees.   Choose a good broker who will do the maths for you!

I keep being asked why the Gift Wrapped Mortgages does not have a complete online automated application process. 

Well you can apply to us using the mortgage enquiry form, but the important documentation is the Fact Find where we really get to know and understand lifestyle and affordability.  Once you make initial contact we can either meet up or I will call you and arrange for this documentation to be completed, and to ask some fundamental questions which aid the process. 

When the Fact Find has been reviewed we can discuss possible products that meet your needs and then it is down to Gift Wrapped Mortgages to source the whole market for the best candidates.

Online mortgage application - No!

The most important fact here is that I will DISCUSS with you the best options, how you feel about them, what you are looking to achieve, the risks, the commitment of a long term mortgage.  So while you can help me out by filling a detailed mortgage enquiry as an independent mortgage broker it is my duty to have personal contact with you, so I can actually provide a good service. 

An Offset Mortgage is a type of flexible mortgage.  Put simply,  you have a mortgage and an account, maybe savings account linked to the mortgage.  That means if you have for example a £100,000 mortgage and say £10,000 in savings the interest for the mortgage is not calculated against the £100,000 owed but £90,000 as the £10,000 helps reduce the mortgage debt. 

Effectively you pool all you savings and earnings into one account, so instead of paying say 6% on your mortgage, earning 4% on savings and .1% on current account it is all pooled together so the offset mortgage calculates the current mortgage loan minus the pooled funds, calculating the interest due on a daily basis.  Essentially the customer can make more from this than they would from their traditional savings/current accounts.  Also through this model your savings account is regarded to have nothing in it, so there is no tax to pay on those savings.

This type of flexible mortgage can be a very good option for the self employed, as all payments and build up of due tax payments can be built up in the account. 

Flexible Mortgage (Offset Mortgage) cost. 

Originally these types of mortgage were quite expensive and not very common but more recently availability has increased and the interest rate can be very appealing.  If you want some free advice as to whether this type of product could be suitable for you and maybe a fuller explaination please contact me.

Brief overview of the Flexible Mortgage

Flexible Mortgages originated in the mid 1990’s when it was referred to as an Australian Mortgage, where the bank or lender began to let the customer make extra payments into their account.  This had a massive impact on how interest on the account was calculated and it changed from yearly to daily. It has developed into what is now known as a Flexible Mortgage.

Some of the typical features of a Flexible Mortgage product are:

• the ability to make overpayments
• the ability to make underpayments
• interest is calculated on a daily basis
• the customer can take a payment holiday
• the customer can borrow back their overpayments
• draw-down additional funds up to pre-set limits
• can pay a lump sum off the capital balance

The benefits are quite obvious by the main features listed and the fact that borrower has a good level of control over their account and finances, and adapt it depending on their current lifestyle.  It can be used in conjunction with either an interest only or repayment mortgage.  The down side is that a Flexible Mortgage can have higher setup fees than a standard mortgage.  Always check fees with your mortgage broker.

An important point to make however is that a Flexible Mortgage is not a single defined mortgage and has two main variations.  I’ll post these soon…

A fantastic website to check how house prices are moving is propertysnake.co.uk which updates daily.  You select the postcode of your choice and the site immediately shows you every property that has a reduction in that area, with the highest fallers at the beginning.  Of course some properties may have a reduction due to personal circumstances but the figures give an overall trend for the area which will be very useful when considering either making an offer, or placing a property competitively on the market.

The market is still very active but it important to be armed with as much information as possible.