Companies

LENDERS ARE now offering mortgages equal to six times salary to first-time buyers desperate to get a foot on the property ladder, as house prices soar out of reach, says the Daily Telegraph .

Five of the UK's largest mortgage brokers have clubbed together in what they are stating is a loose coalition designed to give them better bargaining power with lenders.

Home information packs (Hip) could potentially wipe up to £5.7bn in gross domestic product from the UK economy and make almost 100,000 people jobless in the first year of their introduction, an independent report has said today.

A drop in the number of houses on the market and a rise in the use of offset and lifetime mortgages are some of the developments speakers on IFAonline TV expect to see in the near future.

A mortgage should be regarded as a financial planning tool to help people at different stages of their lives, according to industry figures speaking on IFAonline TV.

Specialist lender, The Oakwood Group, has carried out another smash and grab raid on BM Solutions and Halifax Bank of Scotland Specialist Lending poaching eight more staff from the two firms.

Confusion over mortgages is rife, research from John Charcol reveals.

The Financial Services Authority has come up with a cheeky new approach to revealing the mortgage market and launched a consumer website hosted by cartoon characters in their birthday suits.

The Oakwood Group, a private equity firm focused on the specialist lending sector has announced the hiring of five senior executives from HBOS including the current head of specialist lending, Michael Bolton.

Mortgage lenders who substantially increase exit fees between agreeing the contract term and the consumer exiting the mortgage are acting unfairly, according to the Financial Services Authority (FSA).