Business Secretary Peter Mandelson today give permission for Lloyds TSB to take over major mortgage provider HBOS.
The Office of Fair Trading warned that the takeover would reduce competition in the market for current accounts, financial services to small businesses, mortgages and remortgages.
Despite this, however, the government has ruled that the rescue buyout is allowed to go ahead.
HBOS [...]

Figures released by the Bank of England yesterday reveal that in August, for the first time since records began, mortgage lending turned negative.
This means that the difference between money paid back to lenders and money paid out to customers (net lending) fell to £691 million.
Experts say that this is due to potential buyers waiting for [...]

The Bank of England’s Financial Stability report contains suggestions for changes to the way in which lenders operate.
The report stated that lenders will have stricter guidelines on the levels of liquidity and capital they have when lending.
This may help to avoid banks overstretching themselves, which could prevent the kind of mortgage and remortgage shortage experienced [...]

High street lender Abbey reports today that its market share of gross mortgage lending has increased by 2.8% to 12.6% in the third quarter of this year.
The figures are compared to the same quarter in 2007.
Abbey has stated that its remortgage lending is its strongest area, with remortgage deals making up 64% of its gross [...]

As the economic downturn wears on, many borrowers are looking to remortgage to a tracker deal to take advantage of decreasing interest rates.
Experts have said, however, that those looking to remortgage to tracker deals should act quickly, as lenders increase the cost of tracker mortgages in the face of the credit crunch.
Intelligent Finance, for example, [...]

The Royal Bank of Scotland has dropped the cost of its two-year fixed-rate remortgage deal to 6.14%.
The cut to the price came as RBS also reduced its fixed-rate loans by up to 0.6% in some cases.
Experts have said that fixed rate deals could fall further, which comes as a relief to home-owners looking to remortgage.

Mform.co.uk reports that currently, 61% of remortgage deals cover legal fees and valuations.
Abbey, Halifax, Nationwide, RBS, Woolwich and HSBC are all currently offering remortgage deals such as these.
There are concerns, however, that these positive conditions for remortgage customers may not last due to the economic crisis.
Fransic Ghiloni from mform.co.uk said:
“These incentives are good for borrowers, [...]

The government has unveiled plans to ensure that lenders do not repossess homes without making extensive efforts to agree rearranged payments from customers.
Yvette Cooper, chief secretary to the Treasury, said that the rules would make sure that “repossession is the last resort, not the first.”
The new arrangement may also give home owners more options to [...]

High street lender Abbey’s remortgage index today showed that three year fixed rate deals have grown in popularity over the past few months.
Abbey’s figures show that 56% of remortgage customers opted for a fixed rate deal when their current fixed mortgage term comes to an end.
The popularity of fixed rate mortgages could be evidence of [...]

Home owners with the Icelandic bank Icesave are rushing to remortgage their properties.
Customers have yet to find out when they will be able to start a claims process with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in order to recover money frozen in the Icelandic bank.
As a result, many customers are having to borrow thousands of [...]