The Colour of Money

At its monthly meeting to review interest rates, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) opted to keep the base rate unchanged at 5%.

This is not the kind of news which is going to do much for the mortgage industry or the UK housing market.

As I talked about in a post earlier this week, there are already far fewer mortgages available now than there were a year or so ago. According to an article I read this week, there were over 15,599 different mortgages available this time last year. Now the number of different mortgage products has fallen to 4,679.

More and more mortgage borrowers are now realising the vital role that a professional mortgage advisor can play in helping them find and secure a suitable mortgage. With deals changing all the time and lending criteria shifting almost daily, a mortgage broker who knows where to go for a decent mortgage can be worth his weight in gold.

Sites such as this mortgage website are worth checking out if you want to get access to a qualified mortgage specialist with access to a range of mortgage deals. Read the rest…

Whatever the official definition or spin may say, business owners that I speak to seem to pretty convinced that the UK is in the grips of a recession and that these are difficult times for businesses.

The credit crunch has far reaching consequences and affects all sorts of different businesses to a greater or lesser extent.

One sector that is suffering badly is the mortgage market. Of course we have all heard the high profile stories on the news about the effects of the credit crunch on this country’s banks and building societies. After all, it was the Northern Rock story which first brought the problems in the financial services industry to the public’s attention.

But what about the smaller companies involved in the mortgage business - the one or two man band financial advisers and mortgage brokers who help arrange mortgages for large numbers of the UK’s homeowners? Read the rest…