Even in the current financial climate, home mortgage loans are big business for banks and other lenders. If you are looking to buy a house for the first time, if you are moving or if you are looking to buy a property to let, you will find that there are still hundreds of products in the market to choose between. A lender’s main concern is whether you are able to pay back the money to them. Since the property crisis that started several years ago, lending criteria have been tightened, so that potential borrowers can only take out home mortgage loans if they have the means to pay the money back, and also if they have proved to be responsible borrowers in the past. You will notice that there are home mortgage loan products available for people with a poor credit history, but that the interest rates are usually considerably higher. This is because the mortgage lenders see consumers with adverse credit as a riskier proposition; if you have defaulted on loan or credit card payments, you are statistically more likely to default on your mortgage payments.
Existing customers are extremely valuable to mortgage lenders, because the income that they receive from interest on mortgage loans funds their operations. Therefore, the lenders want to ensure that you stay with them for as long as possible once you have taken out your home mortgage loan. One way of doing this is by offering an attractive interest rate for a fixed number of years, after which time the interest rate reverts to the lender’s standard interest rate. Those who agree to the terms of these incentives are committed to keep their home mortgage loans with the same lender for the whole of the introductory period, and if they try to move to another lender, they are charged a fee. Lenders also do not want people paying back their home mortgage loans too early, because then they lose out on some of the interest. Therefore another common charge is the early redemption penalty, which is usually charged as a percentage of the home mortgage loan. Over time, both the moving fee and the early payment fee reduce, and then vanish altogether, so make sure that you read the terms and conditions of the home mortgage loans in the market to see what sort of financial commitment you are signing up to!
Internet or High Street - Where would you go to find your next home?
Sarah Beeny, Tepilo.com
Sarah Beeny's Top 10 Tips for Buying to Let in 2010
Sarah Beeny, tepilo.com