Mortgage fraud increases 8pc April 18, 2012 MORTGAGE fraud rose by eight per cent last year, according to research out yesterday from Experian. Thirty-four out of every 10,000 mortgage applications were found to be fraudulent, double the overall rate of fraud across the UK’s financial services sector. Most cases involved people providing false personal information on their application and in particular attempts [...]
US Bancorp beats Wall Street forecasts on mortgage sales April 17, 2012 US BANCORP’S first-quarter profit topped analysts’ expectations yesterday as mortgage banking revenue surged. Like other large banks, US Bancorp received a boost as borrowers refinanced home loans at low interest rates. Mortgage banking revenue more than doubled to $452m. US Bancorp has been building up its mortgage business while some large banks pull back, helping [...]
Demand for banks to give early warning of interest rate rises April 15, 2012 BANKS will this week come under fresh political pressure to give customers greater notice of hikes in interest rates. Labour will tomorrow table an amendment to the Financial Services Bill after customers of Halifax were given a minimum of only 14 days’ notice of an increase in the standard variable rate, despite the record low [...]
London’s property: As unsafe as houses April 15, 2012 INSANITY, Albert Einstein famously said, is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The crash might have petrified property investors at the bottom and middle of the market, but in London’s swankier postcodes prices are back on the up. The question is whether these represent sound long-term investments or another [...]
Time for a few home truths about Britain’s housing crisis April 10, 2012 EVERY so often, a piece of research comes along which is a must-read. A document yesterday from the Institute of Economic Affairs is one such report: it reveals in no uncertain terms why house prices are so high in the UK, and what needs to be done to ensure that generations of young people are [...]
CITY A.M. | SHADOW MPC April 4, 2012 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “Hold rates. Strong survey data shows the economy has been recovering through the first quarter, firmly eliminating any need for more easing. Indeed, markets are already providing some tightening of their own, putting up mortgage rates and borrowing costs.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “Hold rates and suspend gilt purchases. The [...]
How to end the euro : One Wolfson prize finalist reveals his proposal April 3, 2012 THE route for euro exit that I recommend requires the prior formation of a secret (and deniable) task force by either Germany alone, or (possibly) with France as a junior partner. This task force should develop a plan in which the first euro exit is the only one – with the complete abandonment of the [...]
Co-operative Bank hikes its mortgage rate April 2, 2012 THE Co-operative Bank has become the latest UK bank to raise its standard variable mortgage rate (SVR) by half a percentage point in the face of higher costs. The rate will go up from 4.24 per cent to 4.74 per cent on 1 May – raising mortgages an average £15 per month for around 54,000 [...]
Give your finances a spring clean: A guide to tidying up all the mess April 1, 2012 SAVINGS Tom Stevenson, investment director, Fidelity WITH a new tax year approaching, the sun shining and a string of bank holidays ahead, spring is certainly in the air. Now is the perfect time for you to take control of your savings. The first step of any spring clean should be ensuring that your money is [...]
An incompetent government hit by a Spring of Discontent March 29, 2012 WHAT a shambles. The police and fire services are shutting petrol stations to prevent riots in parts of the country; Stansted’s baggage controllers are striking over Easter; Britain’s nuclear energy programme is in chaos after E.ON and Npower ditched plans to build new reactors, fuelling fears the lights could go out in a decade’s time; [...]