Mortgages

The first thing that you should do when you have found a property that you wish to buy is to get a mortgage, most of the time people have a rough idea of what they will be allowed to borrow, the amount that you will be allowed to borrow will depend on your income, the lenders will take every financial commitment that you have into deciding your final figure.

There are lots of different mortgages available today, make sure that you know every little bit so you have no surprises in the future. If the property that you wish to mortgage is too expensive and the mortgage that you are offered is too little, you may wish to take a personal loan so you don't lose your dream home, many lenders will arrange this for you as sometimes there is no other option.

Some of the Mortgages available today offer you:

• A fixed Rate for 1 to 10 years
• A lump sum back to you
• Endowment Mortgage
• Tracker, track the Bank of England base rate
• Discount Mortgage, you pay less in the early years
• Capped Rate, cap your rate but still benefit if rates fall
• First time buyer Mortgage, includes many bonuses
• Standard variable rate with no tie in
• Buy to Let, borrow up to 75% of an investment property

The Yorkshire Building Society has recently won Mortgage Lender of The Year.

Endowments

Endowment Mortgages were set up in the 1980’s and 1990’s. They were an alternative to the straight forward repayment mortgage, where each monthly payment paid off part of the capital that you borrowed as well as the interest on that capital.

Like an intrest only mortgage an Endowment Mortgage was a way of paying off the interest only each month.
Endowment policies were set up as monthly investment vehicles. Endowment Policies meant that you could invest a certain amount of money in what was then a booming stock market. People hoped that their investments would generate excellent returns and the fact that life insurance was included left people with less to worry about. People hoped these policies would eventually pay off their mortgage capital at the end of term. Not only was it thought that this would be possible but also that their investments would make an additional healthy sum which they could use for their own purposes.

Unfortunately, things have not gone as planned for many Endowment Mortgage holders. Many people have been informed that their policy is unlikely to generate enough money to pay off their mortgage capital. The shortfall which on average is any thing between 4% to 8% still has to be made up somehow. Some people have opened up saving’s accounts that are of less risk like an ISA.

If you have had an Endowment Shortfall you can make an Endowment Claim. Keypoint Claims specialise in helping people make Endowment Compensation Claims.