img source:pantsinacan]

IF YOU’RE looking to remortgage, or to get your first home loan, you could be in for a nasty shock.

In recent weeks, lenders have been withdrawing deals hand over fist and increasing the rates on the ones that remain. It’s all down to the transatlantic credit crunch. Fears about massive bad debts in the US banking sector have got UK banks and building societies well and truly rattled.

The Bank of England has cut its base interest rate twice in the past four months, which would normally bring loan costs down. But financial website MoneyExpert.com says the cost of the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage has actually risen - from 5.55 per cent in January last year, when base rate was the same as it is now, to 6.17 per cent this month.

On a £100,000 repayment loan, that’s an increase of £456 a year. What is your opinion about this?
[source:dailyrecord]