sub-prime

Mortgage broker fined £900,000 for sub-prime sales

Rebecca Atkinson — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:06:11 +0100

A large firm of financial advisers has been fined £900,000 by the financial regulator for the way it sold sub-prime mortgages to its customers.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined the Thinc Group and two of its associated companies for failing to keep records to prove that the sub-prime mortgages sold to customers were suitable.

The Thinc Group – a network of IFAs selling a range of financial products including mortgages - is accused of failing to collect adequate information on its clients before selling them sub-prime mortgages, and for being unable to prove whether a sub-prime mortgage was suitable for these customers.

Lenders close doors to new mortgage customers

Rebecca Atkinson — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:41:41 +0100

The Co-operative Bank is to pull its popular two-year mortgage range, just days after First Direct suspending lending.

The Co-operative says that unprecedented demand for its two-year products has led it to suspend lening on a “temporary” basis from 3 April.

John Barker, head of mortgages at Co-operative Bank, said: “We pride
ourselves on our ability to create long-term customer relationships and
will not compromise our market leading levels of customer service, by
simply chasing business volume at any cost.”

Is now a good time to get on the property ladder?

Rebecca Atkinson — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:58:00 +0000

Two months of house price falls have sparked fears of negative equity and even a housing market crash but falling prices could be good news not only for first-time buyers but also for the housing market at large.

Research by Rightmove reveals a 0.8% drop on the average asking price in January. The online estate agent says this fall is less than that seen in December, when asking prices were down 3.2%, and could indicate a price stabilisation.

Miles Shipside, commercial director at Rightmove, says buyers are taking advantage of falling asking prices, which is actually giving the market a helping hand to recovery.

Sub-prime worries spark FTSE 100 dive

Rebecca Atkinson — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:33:06 +0000

The FTSE 100 has fallen below the 6,000 point mark for the first time since August 2007 after sub-prime worries on Wall Street sparked a share sell-off.

Last night, US stocks dropped to a nine-month low partly brought on by weak retail sales and the news of Citigroup's $9.83 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2007.

This saw the FTSE 100 falling to 5,964.40 points in the early hours of trading, from a close of 6025.80 on 15 January. Yesterday's close was at its lowest level since the credit crunch hit the stock market in mid-August.

Some of the biggest falls were from London Stock Exchange Group and Cable & Wireless.