FSA mortgage plans under fire for punishing borrowers July 13, 2010 MORTGAGE bodies criticised the FSA’s plans to crack down on risky lending yesterday, as the regulator released full details of its paper on overhauling lending rules. The Building Societies Association said planned curbs on interest-only mortgages risk punishing credit-worthy customers. “The FSA needs to proceed with caution so as not to restrict their use as [...]
FSA SET TO RIP UP MORTGAGE RULES July 12, 2010 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) unveiled plans to overhaul the mortgage market this morning, with some warning the changes will punish borrowers while doing little to tackle the number of repossessions. The FSA said in a report today it will impose “affordability tests” on all borrowers, effectively banning self-certified mortgages and further restricting credit for [...]
Mortgage lending up in May but outlook unclear July 12, 2010 MORTGAGE lending rose slightly in May thanks to continued record low interest rates, the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. It reported that 42,000 loans worth £6bn for house purchase were advanced in May, a 15 per cent increase on a year earlier. Remortgaging activity recovered a little as well in May, rising on [...]
BoA hid billions of dollars of debt through bad accounting July 11, 2010 BANK of America (BoA) has admitted it incorrectly classified figures of up to $10.7bn (£7.1bn) in short-term lending and repurchase deals for mortgage securities as sales. The lender said it had beefed up internal accounting controls after the transactions. It flagged up the fault to the Securities and Exchange Commission itself and no punitive action [...]
Property prices drop in June July 8, 2010 HOUSE prices in Britain dropped 0.6 per cent in June, the third successive monthly fall, a survey from mortgage lender Halifax has shown. Halifax said the decline was a continuation of a trend since the start of this year and was in line with its view that house prices would be broadly flat over 2010 [...]
Home loans at a 10-year low July 7, 2010 Mortgage lending by British banks last year fell to the lowest net level since 2000 and bank robberies rose for the first time in seven years as the recession took its toll. Net mortgage lending by British banks fell to £36.3bn last year, compared with £59.4bn the year before and almost £80bn in 2006, according [...]
Mortgage lending down – bank robberies up July 7, 2010 MORTGAGE lending by British banks last year fell to the lowest net level since 2000 and bank robberies rose for the first time in seven years as the economic recession took its toll. Net mortgage lending by British banks fell to £36.3bn last year, compared with £59.4bn the year before and almost £80bn in 2006, [...]
No compensation for B&B investors July 5, 2010 The Treasury does not have to pay compensation to former shareholders of buy-to-let lender Bradford & Bingley (B&B), an independent valuer said yesterday. B&B, a leading buy-to-let mortgage provider that was hit by a sharp rise in funding costs during the financial crisis, was taken into public ownership in September 2008 and its shares were [...]
FSA bans six mortgage brokers and fines one over £130,000 for fraud July 5, 2010 SIX MORTGAGE brokers have been banned and one fined over £130,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for allegedly committing fraud as the financial watchdog continues its campaign to crack down on illegal activity in the UK. Neale Morton, Syed Meah and Jonathan Smith of Neale Morton IMS Limited have all been banned, with Morton [...]
The real causes of the crisis of 2008 July 1, 2010 FOR all the latest furore surrounding bankers’ bonuses and the rest, we have yet again lost sight of how the crisis actually began, and politicians and regulators’ central role in promoting it. There were many factors, of course, with private institutions often behaving foolishly – but sub-prime lending, the crisis’ central catalyst, was promoted by [...]