Mortgage | Property Investment | Finance Guide

Britain is experiencing a deeper recession than other countries because of the relative size of the country’s financial sector, finance minister Alistair Darling said Tuesday as he tried to deflect criticism of the government for the scale of the economic crisis.

“Because we have such a large financial services sector and also because of the nature of our housing market, we were bound to be affected to a greater extent than some countries,” Darling told a committee of the House of Lords.

Darling’s comments followed last week’s prediction from the IMF that Britain’s recession would be deeper than elsewhere. It forecast that Britain’s economy would contract by 2.8 percent this year, which would be the country’s worst performance since the 1930s, and more than the 2.5 percent predicted for Germany and the 1.6 percent penciled in for U.S.

In his last set of forecasts in November last year, Darling predicted that the British economy would contract by between only 0.75-1.25 percent and insisted that Britain was in a better position than other countries to weather the storm emanating from the seizing up of credit markets and the near collapse of the global banking system.

He is expected to downgrade his 2009 forecast in March or April when he delivers the Budget and will no doubt face criticism for underplaying the scale of the recession. Britain officially entered into recession — considered to be two consecutive quarters of negative growth — in the fourth quarter of 2008 when figures showed that it contracted by a massive 1.5 percent from the previous three month period.

Britain has fallen into its worst recession since the 1980s, official government figures have confirmed.

According to the Office for National Statistics the economy shrank again in the last three months of 2008 by 1.5 % and that’s after a 0.6% drop in the previous quarter.

With economic growth falling in two consecutive quarters the UK has met the official definition of a recession. The downturn, greater than economists predicted, marks the worst performance since the slump of the early eighties, which saw unemployment rise above three million.

The figures come as the jobless total soared to 1.92 million and as the Government bailed out troubled banks for a second time, pulling the economy from the brink of collapse.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said the figures underlined the scale of the challenges the government faced. He said: “It’s going to be a difficult year for families in the UK. We need to go about the problem with a sense of purpose.”

But Christian financial advisor Sid Cordle said people need to start seeking God for the solution:

“What we need to do as a nation is get on our knees and realise that maybe man has not got the answer to all these massive problems. We actually ought to start praying as a nation rather than throwing lots of money at the problem.”

Mr Cordle said he would love the church to tell Gordon Brown to start praying about the situation.

“If the Church could actually say to the Government ‘let’s call for a national day of prayer to come before God with the problems of the nation’ that would be a massive step forward. For every individual, whatever their situation in the present time, they need to say ‘right God what do you want me to do, how do you want me to behave with my finances.”

The debate on the length and depth of the recession is complicated to predict at this stage but some economists believe it could stretch as far as 2010. Usually recessions will last for between 3-5 quarters.

You need to check thoroughly about the lender’s reputation as well as about their handling of mortgages. Be well assured whether their customers are happy with them.

Although a low interest rate is good, you need to be assured this is guaranteed for you and the time period over which they will hold the rate, which you need to get in writing, or else they may try to switch interest rates at closing. Mistakes Made When Choosing a Lender

Repayment mortgage is a type of mortgage in which the monthly repayments consist of repaying the capital amount borrowed as well as the accrued interest. In your statement of mortgage which you receive annually indicates the amount borrowed decreases throughout the term.

The main advantage of a repayment mortgage is that at the end of the term, you can be sure that the total amount of the debt has been repaid. Secondly, it also removes the risk of having an investment, the performance of which is dependent on the stock market. Therefore, you are less likely to suffer from negative equity as your mortgage balance will be reducing month on month.

As time moves on, the equity percentage in the property increases. However, in the early years the bulk of the mortgage repayments consist of the interest component, so not much of the capital is actually paid off for some time. Consequently, when you re-mortgage or move home you may find it easier to obtain a mortgage and you may be able to avoid paying a Mortgage Indemnity Guarantee.
There are some disadvantages in repayment mortgage method, ie. you would be unable to benefit from the stock market if it has performed well over the period of the mortgage. Therefore, there is no possibility of being able to pay off your mortgage early with such an investment windfall or receiving an additional lump sum at the end of the repayment period.

If you think of moving house after a few years, then you may have to repay your existing loan and take out a new one, as most of the repayments in the early years consist of interest on the existing balance and not a huge amount of capital will have to be repaid from the original debt.

Many people end up taking out another twenty-five year loan, especially if they are trading up to a higher value property. This will once again put them at the start of the repayment schedule, meaning that the bulk of the repayments are once again being taken up with servicing the interest bill on the mortgage debt.

HSBC maintains that only 1% of the bank’s mortgage customers are on SVRs.

Their new rate will fall from 6.25%to 5.44%.

Of HSBC customers with variable rate mortgages, over 95% have mortgages linked to the Bank of England base rate.

Earlier this month HSBC announced it was passing on the cut in full to all its tracker rate customers.

HSBC is also offering its existing SVR and discounted rate borrowers the option of moving onto the bank’s current ‘best buy’ lifetime tracker mortgage free of charge.

This makes for a £799 discount on the deal.

This lifetime tracker (currently 3.99%) charges 0.99% over Base rate for up to 60% LTV.