Negative equity is already playing it’s part in stifling the property market and it is set to make matters worse. If prices do drop by another 40% (according to MoneyWeek) or more, over the next few years the number of people finding themselves in negative equity is likely to increase substantially. The actual number of homeowners facing the prospect of negative equity is difficult to quantify because there is limited and conflicting data available. According to the Bank of England between 7% and 11% of UK homeowners are now in negative equity a recent report suggests this equates to between 700,000 and 1,100,000 people. If
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Monthly Archives June 2009
What’s your Loan to Value? – Take the survey.
A recent report from the Bank of England has made it into the press suggesting figures for the number of UK homeowners in a negative equity situation. The report used information from a 2008 survey of just 1000 people and may therefore be misleading. To take part in this totally anonymous survey simply select the answer that reflects your personal Loan to Value and I will compile more recent data to try and evidence the real situation. Feel free to email this to as many people as possible. If you don’t know your Loan to Value use this calculator first: Loan to Value Calculator Then
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Payday Loans – Friend or Foe?
I run a personal finance website and on this site I have affiliate programs and also direct access enquiry forms. An affiliate program allows me to display links to other websites and earn commission when someone clicks or applies. Like this: Virgin Credit Card – 0% for 16 months 2.98% fee (typical 16.6% APR) The direct access enquiry forms send enquiries direct to qualified and waiting advisers. In the past there were virtually unlimited marketing budgets in the finance sector and there were an abundant supply of affiliate programs for loan products. Now there are very few. An emerging loan
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Is It Time to Fix Your Mortgage for the Next 10 Years?
The dilemma of whether or not to get a long term fixed rate mortgage and ‘ride out the storm’ of impending inflation and interest rate rises or go for a cheap deal now and save in the short term…. It’s a matter of timing. http://www.creditmarket.co.uk/news/mortgages/long-term-fixed-rate-mortgages-10-year-5-year-deals-attract-interest.htm
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The Recession is Over!
‘The recession is over, according to one of the nation’s most respected economic think-tanks.’ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/analysts-the-recession-has-ended-1702147.html Phew! Thank goodness for that! And there was everyone thinking it was going to be deep, nasty and a long slow recovery! The first paragraph of the Independent story reads: ‘The UK’s surprising resilience is confirmed by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), an independent body with an enviable record for accuracy. It says that the economy hit rock bottom in as early as March and returned to growth, albeit modestly, in April and May’ Here is a link to the NIESR
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House Prices Could Drop by 50% – But I’m not Convinced.
There are varying predictions about the direction house prices will go in the coming months and years. Predictions range from up by 25% over the next 5 years (according to the National Housing Federation) to down 50% by 2011 (according to Houepricecrash.co.uk) It’s possible to approximate the anticipated extent of the house price crash by analysing graphs of previous housing crashes. Provided the crash is comparable to previous crashes in terms of market conditions and contributing factors it may be a reasonable way to predict one possible outcome. Let’s look at a graph! http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/graphs-average-house-price.php The most recent crash in 1989 took
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Sky Box Warranty & Digital Services UK
I had a call from a company recently because my Sky TV 12 month warranty was due for renewal. The call wasn’t from Sky but a 3rd party company offering ‘repair or replace’ cover for the Sky equipment. I listened to the call and absorbed the information and by the end of the call I was happy to proceed with a policy on the basis that: 1/ I knew the company wasn’t Sky but a 3rd party warranty provider. Take a look at most buildings & contents policies or car insurance policies with legal cover. The legal cover is generally
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BT Call Plan Offers with 0845 Numbers
The heading of this post may lead you to think it will be about the various offers and deals available from BT. But it’s not. It’s about one particular offer seemingly available on BT’s own online Terms and Conditions but peculiarly unobtainable. BT have a great call plan offer, don’t get me wrong I think it’s great for people who may do some work form home and need to call 0845 numbers now and again. Sky have ‘Sky Talk’ which you can pay £5 per month for and pay nothing for the first hour for calls to 01, 02 & 03 numbers.
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