Welcome To Mortgage-4u.co.uk
In general terms a mortgage is a loan you take out to buy property. The money is then paid back to the lender over a fixed period of time with accrued interest. There are two main ways of getting a mortgage ; direct from a lender or through a mortgage broker.
By going through Mortgages 4 U you get impartial advice and recommendation on a mortgage that suits your needs. There is also two main ways to repay your mortgages; repayment and interest only. Our specialist mortgage advisors will go through which option is best for you. Simply complete our form to start the process.
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The Telegraph's tips for riding out the recession Posted on : 08/05/2012Regulator Which? have released figures today that show 11pc of all homeowners would not be able to afford food if their repayments rose by just £50 a month, leaving many underwhelmed with the ominous promise of a double-dip in the coming months. With the cost of simply 'surviving' rising on a daily basis, rock-bottom mortgages are said to be one of the few things keeping finances afloat for many. Therefore, in a bid to help mortgage owners ride out the recession as smoothly as possible, The Telegraph has released a series of ten steps to ensure they can navigate the bumpy ride ahead. 1. Be wise with your mortgage It is time to take a long, hard look at your mortgage terms and conditions. Ray Boulger, from brokers John Charcol, says that mortgage companies are looking at ways to legitimately raise rates for anyone whose mortgage is not fixed. Even some tracker mortgages come with terms and conditions that enable them to be ''delinked'' from the Base Rate after a certain period. If your deal is coming to an end, or you fear that your standard rate may be raised, it's vital to think ahead about how you will cope. It is harder than it used to be to get a mortgage deal, and if yours has been interest-only, you will find companies have tightened their criteria. Plan now. If you think you might want to change lenders, check your credit rating, since this will have an impact on what deals you can get. Think about whether you can afford to overpay your mortgage now, in order to remortgage later with more equity in your house. As a rule, you will be able to access better interest rates if you have a larger deposit. 2. Get intelligent with credit If you think you may soon face a nasty financial shock, try to deal with any debt you have now. It may be easier to pay the minimum monthly payment on your credit card at the moment, but the interest rate on your card could also rise, and higher monthly mortgage payments would also affect your ability to pay. If you only pay the minimum balance on your credit card you might be dead before it is paid off. If you have a good credit rating, it may be best to shift any credit card debt on to a 0pc credit card, which will buy you time to pay off your balance. You need to make sure you are disciplined with this. At present, Barclaycard is offering 22 months' free credit on transferred credit card balances in return for a 2.9pc fee. However, the 0pc rate only lasts for three months, and after that you will pay an APR of 17.9pc. If you want to use the card for spending as well, a 15-month Barclaycard Platinum may be a better bet. This gives you 15 months on both spending and balance transfers for the same fee. Once you have the card, make sure you save enough to pay off the debt at the end of the term. If you don't think you will be able to do this, try a low rate ''life of balance'' card. This allows you to transfer your balance (often free of charge) on to the card, and it gives you a lower rate until you have paid it off. Sainsbury's offers a card with an APR of 6.9pc, while Barclaycard offers 7.9pc – both with free balance transfers. 3. Cut your fuel bills It make sense to cut household bills as much as possible, and gas and electricity are one of the biggest offenders. If you have never switched your fuel deal, you will definitely be paying too much – probably to the tune of hundreds of pounds a year. Even if you have, you may still be able to get a better deal. Switching is easy – just make sure you won't be paying a costly termination charge for leaving your current suppliers before the end of your contract. Switching sites such as Moneysupermarket, uSwitch or EnergyHelpline will enable you to compare costs. Have your old bills with you as this will help estimate future usage. If this all sounds like too much trouble, at least ring your current supplier and ask them to switch you on to their cheapest deal. 4. Change your current account Statistically, you are more likely to get divorced than change your current account, but changing your bank can be financially rewarding. If you are racking up bank charges for going overdrawn, some accounts will give you an overdraft buffer to help. If you are always in credit, other accounts will pay interest. Try First Direct if you do not keep much money in your current account, but pay in at least £1,500 a month. You'll get £100 cashback for switching, as well as a buffer of £250 and an award-winning service. If you find you don't like First Direct, you'll get another £100 if you switch away within a year. Or try Santander, which pays 1pc cashback on your water and council tax bills, 2pc on gas and electricity, and 3pc on phone, landline, broadband and TV package bills in return for a £2 a month fee. There is also no daily overdraft fee for four months when you switch. 5. Review your mobile Do you use all your mobile phone minutes? Contracts are often a tricky balancing act, because if you don't use them you will be paying too much, but if you go over your allocation you'll pay dearly in extra charges. Billmonitor.com is your friend – it can analyse your phone bill and recommend the best contract. 6. Don't roll over Beware of renewal notices that say "You Need Do Nothing Now" for insurance and other contracts. These automatic renewals nearly always overcharge, and you can get a better deal by shopping around. For insurance, use price comparison sites such as Moneysupermarket and uSwitch. If you don't want to change provider, try shopping around anyway and then invite your company to match the price you've found elsewhere. 7. Use codes and vouchers Many people are now au fait with the printable voucher – mainly used to give discounts on days out and restaurants – as well as promotional codes that can give money off online purchases. Newer ways of using promotions include Vouchercloud, which will show nearby deals on your smartphone wherever you are – useful if you are not organised enough to print something in advance. If you are online, it's worth doing a swift Google of any company that you are buying from together with the phrase "promotional code". 8. Tackle food prices Rising food prices are enough to put any weekly budget out of kilter, so take steps now to lower your weekly bill. Food planning – deciding what you are going to eat at each meal – can make a useful dent in your costs as well as reduce waste. Similarly, choosing to have more meals without meat can save money. If you have a market nearby, fruit and vegetables may be cheaper there than at a supermarket. 9. Be home-phone savvy Many of us are still with BT, but the former state-run telecoms company is not the cheapest for everyone. Swapping home phones can be confusing, and the service you choose depends on whether you want to bundle in broadband and pay TV. If you don't want to bundle, comparison sites will help you decide whether you need to switch and how much you can save. For example, it is currently offering line rental from Primus for £6.49 a month compared with BT at £10.75 a month, as long as you pay upfront. 10. Get cashback Everyone likes receiving money for nothing, so if you do make any of the changes we've suggested, it makes sense to see if you can get money back in the process. For example, Topcashback.com is offering £45.45 cashback on the Santander 123 account mentioned above, while Quidco is offering £50 cashback on bets with William Hill.
Mortgage applicants' dishonesty on the rise Posted on : 23/04/2012Fraudulent mortgage applications have increased by 8% again this year, as "financially stressed" consumers trying to hide the skeletons in their closet, a study has suggested. Every 34 in each 10,000 applications for mortgages were found to be fraudulent in 2011 - a figure which as doubled since records began back in 2006. Provider, Experian said:
There was a 4% increase in financial services application fraud overall, which was also driven by a growth in insurance and current account fraud. The latest figure marks the fifth annual mortgage fraud increase in a row, with 93% of such attempted scams due to people "misrepresenting" their personal information on applications, most commonly by trying cover up a poor credit history, or making false claims about their employment status or the state of their finances.The culprits The main perpetrators of the fraudulent applications where, on the whole, young, well-educated professionals; young, less well-educated people living in small towns; and middle-aged skilled workers, according to the report. The reason The rise in dishonesty is thought to be largely due to a mixture of the following:
However, there has been a backlash to the fraudulent claims from lenders, who assure that any applications that are found to be fraudulent will instantly void the contract, and could incur serious financial implications - warning new applicants to be vigilant when applying for a mortgage.
- A foreseen dip in mortgage availability in the coming months, as lenders tighten their purse strings in the flailing economy. Several lenders have also recently announced mortgage rate rises, which will affect more than a million people in total.
- Stricter mortgage lending rules are due to come into place under new plans of the Financial Services Authority (FSA). This will be implemented to ensure that there is no return to irresponsible lending and borrowers can only take out deals they can afford, without relying on house price rises.
(According to The Press Association)
- Fears have been raised of a "ticking time bomb" of people on interest-only deals who may find themselves unable to remortgage, with some 1.5 million interest-only mortgages worth around £120 billion due for repayment in the next decade.
