News

The expertise of the Moneyfacts team is regularly in demand from news outlets and journalists across the national and financial spectrum, with many relying on our up-to-the-minute data and insightful quotes to inform their stories. Here are just a few places we’ve been in the news this week.

• Our story on the average two-year tracker rate falling was picked up by a number of publications, including Mortgage Strategy, Mortgage Solutions, Financial Reporter, Your Mortgage and Which?. “It appears that an increasing number of products this month, and subsequent intensifying competition, has driven the average variable rate down,” said Darren Cook, one of our resident finance experts. “The amount of interest a borrower is required to pay monthly on a variable tracker rate mortgage could of course change over time, but any fluctuations in rate are likely to be linked to external factors such as the Bank of England Base Rate.”

• The Daily Mail, This is Money and The Times all covered our research on rising easy access rates, in which we revealed that competition from challenger brands is pushing rates further upwards as providers continually look to leapfrog one another to offer the best rate in the market. However, Darren warns that these rates may not be around for long: “The providers that are pushing up rates will be closely monitoring the level of overall deposits they are taking and may cut the rate if it becomes too popular. Savers should keep an eye out: if a market-leading rate appears that suits their requirements, quick action is required as it could disappear as quickly as it arrived.”

• Several publications reported on Yorkshire Building Society launching interest-only mortgage deals – including The Times, Fair Investment, Your Mortgage and Mortgage Solutions – and in doing so picked up on our previous research into the area, in which we found that the number of interest-only mortgages available has doubled in the last six years.

• Elsewhere, Mortgage Strategy covered our regular mortgage rate update, while Landlord Zone quoted our data in a piece on the UK rental market, as did Financial Reporter on a piece covering later life lending. Similarly, Which? also used our data to inform a feature on the rising number of over-65s taking out buy-to-let mortgages, as well as on a story covering cashback mortgages, highlighting how often our expertise is used.

The Moneyfacts Weekly Product News is a round-up of the latest products or rate changes to hit the consumer finance market over the past seven days. The deals are available right now, but may be subject to change.

Nationwide Building Society has suggested that intense mortgage competition and increased spending on digital banking services have led to its profits falling by 19% to £788m for the year to 4 April.

The building society saw a drop in profits despite its net mortgage lending rising to £8.6bn from £5.8bn the previous year. Intense competition has likely led to the fall in mortgage rates year-on-year, which consequently could have affected mortgage lending profits. Along with Nationwide reporting a drop in profits, the competitive mortgage market is one factor that could have contributed to Tesco Bank and the AA leaving the sector altogether.

Downsizing is becoming an increasingly popular way for many older homeowners to release cash from their home, while at the same time allowing them to move into a smaller, more manageable property. Yet unfortunately, new research shows that they may end up with less than they bargained for, as after the various costs of moving have been taken into account, the money left over may not be as substantial as they initially hoped.

That’s according to research from OneFamily, with its latest figures revealing that 43% of over-60s surveyed have moved to a different property in order to access capital tied up in their home – yet 24% of those end up with less money than expected, and 20% were disappointed with the overall return.