In summary:

• Economic forecasts for global growth have been nudged up in the past month – it’s not all gloom and doom.
• Debt problems are still with us and you should expect equity market volatility in coming months.
• Politicians are under popular pressure to shift policy towards growth rather than austerity.
• This means we are favouring equities over bonds, particularly as equities represent better value.
• Alternative investments are struggling, but we see opportunity in international property and have invested accordingly.

Download the full Investment Prospects April 2012
Prospect Wealth Management brings the highest standards of professional investment management to the individual investor, charities and trusts.

National Counties has reduced the completion fee of its 10-year fixed rate mortgage to £495 and expanded the available repayment term, as well as granting the ability to repay up to 10% of the original advance each year.

At Limetree we normally only recommend products longer than five-year fixed when the client has a fixed income. But this product from National Counties suits people with 10 or 15 years to run on their mortgage even as they enter retirement. It could even allow them to use part of their pension to pay it off a bit sooner.

The age limit for the remortgage is 75. There are not many products like this for senior homeowners, so the enhanced deal is very welcome. They are offering a rate of 4.19% up to 25% loan-to-value.

National Counties is a small niche lender that has always seemed thoughtful. If you have built up 75% equity in your home and are into your retirement, remortgaging with them will allow you to pay off the rest of your mortgage at a superb rate.

Contact Limetree to find out more about the conditions.

But a change in the way that credit reports are calculated might help you out.

One of the UK’s three credit reference agencies is set to take consumers’ rent payments into account in credit reports. Experian is launching Rental Exchange to include tenants’ rental history, in the hope that it will strengthen their credit ratings. (Rent payments will only be included in reports with consumers’ permission).

This means that if, like most first-time buyers, you have been renting for some time – that could now count towards your credit history.

Of course you need to pay your rent on time, although Experian have said that in the case of genuine disputes over a missed payment, the information will not appear on a tenant’s record until it is resolved. The company will also safeguard credit records from being affected by late payments of housing benefit.

This is a positive move from Experian. For many people who have not yet built up a credit profile, this is a chance to improve their ranking. It will also emphasise to tenants the importance of paying rent on time. Their payments will, in effect, be like a mini mortgage.

For more advice and help getting a mortgage for the first time, contact us at Limetree. We are happy to help in any way we can.

Bridging finance is usually an interim loan, arranged quickly to cover the gap between expenditure (such as buying a house) and the next stage of financing (such as selling). It is becoming a convenient way of making a deal work. Although the costs are still relatively high, the opportunities it can open up mean we are seeing more enquiries for bridging from people in all sorts of situations.

Traditionally bridging has always been seen as a chain-breaker in property sales. However, more and more we are seeing it used for:

• Investment purchase
• Short-term cash flow
• Home improvements
• Business use

These days there is a wide variety of bridging products available:

• Loans from £30k to £5 million
• Rates from 0.85% pm
• 1st and 2nd charges available
• Daily interest, with interest payable monthly or effectively borrowed as part of the loan
• No exit fees
• Terms from 1–23 months, with one lender even offering a 3-year bridge

Bridging finance is not for everyone, but is more versatile than it used to be. Why not call us to find out if it could help you with your next property move or development?

These include car insurance, home insurance, their energy provider, credit card and mortgage lender.

13.8% of consumers had never switched their home insurer. As the UK Insurance Index said:

This is interestingly juxtaposed to the fact that 81 per cent of Brits are hoping to save money this year with 22 per cent citing bills and the rising cost of living as their biggest financial worry.

With another year well under way, now is the time to get in touch with us at Limetree Financial Services to assist you and take all the stress and hard work out of shopping around for mortgages and insurance.

We are whole of market for both and have a panel of 40+ insurers who can underwrite the most simplest or complex of policies for you. These include non-standard construction types, specialist landlords or just your basic home insurance, which can be tailored specifically for your requirements.

With all the financial news of further doom and gloom this year, let us help save you money and time.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has issued guidance on what solar panel leases should, and should not, contain, if they are to be acceptable for mortgage purposes.

One crucial detail: if a property has a solar panel lease which does not contain a mortgage break right, then lenders will be unable to accept the property as security.

Because some situations are in doubt, all cases subject to solar panel leases will not therefore be eligible for the free standard legal fees that CML currently offer to remortgage customers. The reason is that these cases will require their panel solicitors to review the lease first to check that it complies with CML guidance.

If you are leasing your roof to a solar panels company, or are intending to do so, and want to remortgage, we recommend that you obtain this information as early as possible in the mortgage application process.

For further information on solar panel leases read the CML guidance.

For further information on mortgaging, and finding the best deal for you from the many available, contact Limetree Financial Services. It’s free to find out.

Everyone expects interest rates to rise at some stage. Many clients will then look to remortgage. But when they do, the monthly repayments are likely to be much higher, as lenders restrict the ability to borrow on an interest-only basis.

To make matters worse, Santander announced recently that they will not accept applications for interest-only mortgages for over 50% of the property value, which is low. And other lenders are also restrictive – lending a maximum of 66%, or at most 75%, loan to value.

Another problem is that many interest-only lenders also require that the equity is over £150,000. (Equity is the amount of money that you would have left if you sold your property and paid off the mortgage).

Case study: interest-only remortgage

Let’s say you have a £250,000 property with a £150,000 interest-only mortgage, and as the rates rise you want to remortgage to find a better deal.

You would not be able to remortgage interest-only with Santander because you would be borrowing 60% loan-to-value.

And although this would be a LTV below 66% or 75%, the following lenders also would not (currently) lend to you: Nationwide, Woolwich, Cambridge Building Society, to name just three. That’s because you would fall short of £150,000 of equity.

The double whammy awaiting interest-only borrowers is the rise in rates combined with an increase in monthly repayments – as many of them will not qualify for interest-only and will have to start repaying capital as well.

But all is not lost. Contact Limetree for a free chat about your mortgage options. We are truly independent brokers who find the best mortgages from across the whole market, and may be able to find you a way to continue with interest-only.

In summary:

• The European Central Bank has restored confidence in European markets with its long term bank financing, so we see more stability in European bond and equity markets in the months ahead.
• Economic news still points to improving growth, despite the rise in the oil price.
• UK bonds are vulnerable to a lack of further quantitative easing – we are selling our remaining gilts in favour of short maturity corporate bonds.
• Equities are technically in a bull market and we see scope for further gains in coming months – we are overweight equities.

Prospect Wealth Management brings the highest standards of professional investment management to the individual investor, charities and trusts.

We have positions available for both employed and self-employed roles, depending on experience.

Details are on the Jobs page. At Limetree it is as much about ambition, motivation and a strong work ethic as it is about qualifications and experience.

If you want to join the Limetree team, and think you can offer the highest levels of service and advice to our clients, please get in touch.

The knock on effect is that your monthly payments may fluctuate. People arrange variable rate mortgages in the hope of benefitting from lower rates, although the rates can of course go up as well as down.

But most people are only aware of one type of variable rate, when in fact there are three.

Tracker mortgages are guaranteed to follow the Bank of England Base Rate. When the base rate changes, the tracker interest rate changes by the same amount.

Discount variable rate mortgages have an interest rate where a discount is applied to the lender’s standard variable rate (SVR) for a set period. It moves up and down to the same degree as the SVR. A lender’s SVR is influenced by the movement of the Bank of England base rate, but not exactly. Mortgage lenders use their own discretion to set the rate.

Libor mortgages track the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate. This is the rate at which banks lend money to each other in the money markets. Most Libor mortgages have a three-monthly rate review but are not a liable to change as the other two.

If you have decided to go for a variable rate mortgage, you still need to choose between the different types. We are happy to advise you to find the product that suits your needs the best. There is no charge for talking to us – simply get in touch.