Lenders’ Hidden Mortgage Deals

[The Masked Tulip]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/pro...icle6542947.ece

Government banks are quietly offering much better deals to homeowners in negative equity than to new borrowers with larger deposits.

Lloyds-owned Halifax, which is backed 40% by taxpayers, and NatWest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) group, which is 70% owned by the taxpayer, are providing mortgages that are about 1.5 percentage points cheaper than their normal range to customers whose outstanding loans are more than their property value.

Until now, the perceived wisdom was that homeowners with the biggest deposits were given the best deals. However, customers at Halifax who owe 120% of the value of the property can secure five-year fixes at 5.64% with a £1,249 fee, but only if they ask. This compares with 7.09% for new customers with a 10% deposit and 5.91% for a buyer with 15%.

Makes you just want to leave the country - again, the prudent are paying for the feckless.

[grizzly bear]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/pro...icle6542947.ece

Makes you just want to leave the country - again, the prudent are paying for the feckless.

although this really annoys me i understand why they are doing it - they need them to keep on paying year in year out and not to default.

[IMHAL]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/pro...icle6542947.ece

Makes you just want to leave the country - again, the prudent are paying for the feckless.

There was a time when I would get angry at this sort of state led persecution and abuse, but now I am resigned to the fact that the markets are being manipulated and don't work, governments are corrupt, banks cause poverty and war, fiat money is just a piece of paper that can devalued in an instant and MP's are crooks.

So now I am no longer suprised or even upset - its just a game being played for the politicians glorification and we are the pawns being buffered by the winds.

[The Masked Tulip]

They are manipulating the mortgage market so why not the stock market bounce?

[IMHAL]

although this really annoys me i understand why they are doing it - they need them to keep on paying year in year out and not to default.

So, politicians are hostage to the banks, savers are hostage to the banks and the banks are hostage to those in debt.

The conclusion is....... those in debt rule the roost, they dictate policy, they make the rules and they get bailed out - everyone else comes second.

[porca misèria]

In a word, misselling.

Other misselling scandals (where the "victims" were greedy and/or dumb) have led to big compensation payouts. FTB mortgages since about 2003 have been (arguably) the biggest ever misselling scandal, and reduced interest rates are a form of backdoor compensation to the victims.

And a bonus to many who don't need it. But then, it's a much smaller bonus if your mortgage is a 1995-sized £50k.

[IMHAL]

The cost of someone losing a house and having to go into social housing is greater than a reduced interest rate until the economy picks up.

Besides we dont have the social housing and social housing is a greater burden on the tax payer as people are less likely to look after something that is maintained by the housing association.

With declining tax revenues, the prospect of massive cuts in public spending do we really need to add more costs at a time when we need to be making savings?

And who's job is it to think through the dangers and consequences of allowing a 300% boom in house prices?

When you say 'do we really need to add more costs at a time when we need to be making savings' - who is we? Is this 'we' the same 'we' that are continuing to recruiting public sector workers on six figure salaries, wanting to keep spending above their means, scamming their expenses, and generally scorching the economic earth for the next government to sort it out?

If so then I really could give a rats ars about that 'we', I'd rather let the full consequences of their actions unfold and the polticians who got us into this mess to be exposed.