Coming soon from Enhanced Wealth Limited
Holiday Let Mortgages
Unlike more conventional buy to let mortgages, holiday let mortgages can be significantly more difficult to arrange. A vast majority of major lenders will not finance the purchase of a property that is primarily going to be let as short term holiday accommodation. Additionally, holiday let mortgages are deemed to facilitate a form of commercial enterprise, meaning further selection criteria may apply. In many ways holiday let mortgages are something of a hybrid financial product. On the one hand they are supporting a commercial venture and on the other hand they are being used by individuals who wish to expand their property portfolio. The concept of investing in residential property via the buy to let market has become increasingly popular in recent years and people have been quick to indentify holiday accommodation as a possibly more lucrative and secure form of acquiring new properties. Holiday let mortgages allow the buyer to purchase a property with none of the associated risks of the standard buy to let business model. Holiday makers pay a premium for the use of holiday accommodation and they pay in advance, meaning more income being derived from a more secure stream. Much like standard buy to let mortgages, holiday let mortgages will only usually provide 70% to 80% of the actual purchase cost of the property, borrowers will need to find a significant deposit from their own resources. Many lenders will also insist that the property in question has a minimum value of around £70,000 which in today?s property market is not such a large hurdle. Holiday let mortgages can be a great way to achieve financial freedom by accruing property assets which quite literally pay for themselves. If we consider that the only initial outlay will often be the deposit, and that many properties will make sufficient income to fully cover the holiday let mortgage repayments, then it becomes clear that this particular form of investment is particularly attractive to those people who find they have limited funds. The marketplace for holiday let mortgages is still fairly young and is slowly evolving into a mature field, much in the way that buy to let mortgages have developed over the past decade. Now is the time for those who are considering holiday let mortgages to act, right now the process of applying for this form of finance dissuades many people from entering the market, once the products have evolved and the application process becomes more streamlined, many people who were previously deterred from applying for holiday let mortgages are bound to revisit the option once more. The market will become flooded and the real bargains and profit will begin to dry up. If you are seriously considering holiday let mortgages as an option to build your personal wealth by acquiring a portfolio of holiday accommodation, then you are advised to seek the advice of a professional broker, who will be able to assist you in finding the best holiday let mortgages for your needs. Enhanced Wealth are a specialist provider of holiday let mortgages, you can visit our dedicated holiday let mortgage website here http://www.holidayletmortgages.co.uk ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
A Discussion of Commercial Mortgages
If you have ever applied for a personal or residential mortgage, you may be under the false assumption that applying for commercial mortgages is equally simple. This is in fact not the case, commercial mortgages are significantly trickier to apply for successfully, let?s take a look at some of the main reasons for this. ? Commercial mortgages operate under a very different set of lending criteria to personal mortgages. If you do not understand these criteria, and do not have the time to research and learn how these criteria work, then you will find that your application will probably be unsuccessful. ? The application process for commercial mortgages can differ significantly between lenders, you will need to approach a wide selection of lending establishments to receive the best financial product for your needs, meaning you will need to track and control multiple applications that will probably follow completely different processes. ? When applying for commercial mortgages, you will be asked to submit a wealth of supporting documentation; this can include a full business plan showing the effect of the mortgage upon your company?s financial forecast, and a fully audited set of company accounts. These documents will need to be prepared in a format that the lender you are approaching requires them, as discussed above, there are very few standards across lenders, and you may well need to produce several version of each document, one for each lender. ? Individuals who are seeking their own commercial mortgages will not have access to the full range of lenders and mortgage products, only qualified professionals will be able to contact all lenders directly, requesting information about their specific products. The best way to acquire the best in commercial mortgages is to contact a professionally qualified commercial mortgage broker. By selecting a good broker you will have access to all of the skills needed to make sure that your application is approved and you receive the best from your mortgage product. A broker will be able to assist you in creating and distributing the required supporting documentation to a whole range of lenders in one shot, they have access to a far wider range of products and are able to submit a single, unified application to multiple lenders at one time. This means the entire application process is vastly simplified. Your broker will also be able to search a wider range of products, meaning you are more likely to get the best in commercial mortgages, many of these products are made only available to brokers, without a broker you would not be able to apply for them, these are often the premium commercial mortgages, and represent the very best products the lenders offer. To sum things up, applying for commercial mortgages is a vastly more complicated affair than applying for a personal mortgage; you would be best advised to seek the services of a qualified commercial mortgage broker to act on your behalf as your point of contact into the major lending establishments. ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
Tracker mortgages are back with a bang!
More than 30 lenders withdrew their various offers of tracker mortgages from the market citing reasons of re-pricing. However, the surprise cut of base rate by 1.5% has forced many lenders to increase their margins by two-fold on tracker mortgages and starting this week, many banks and mortgage giants have reintroduced tracker deals for existing home owners. For example, Halifax, UK?s largest lender has reintroduced its two-year tracker deals for individuals who have a deposit of 25% at a rate of 5.14%, or 2.14% above base. Homeowners who have a 25% deposit with Mortgage major Lloyds TSB can hope to pay 2.09% above base. Last week, Abbey?s two year tracker was 1.29% compared to the current 1.99% above the base rate. A tracker mortgage is a very commonly used product in the UK and is nothing but a loan secured against a real estate property and the interest that is charged promises to have a definite relationship with the base rate of Bank of England. Tracker mortgage rates are usually cheaper than fixed or flexible rate mortgage. However, the unique part of tracker mortgage rate is that even though the cost of a tracker mortgage dips with falling interest rates, it does not guard the owner against rising interest rates. When it comes to remortgaging, individuals get mostly attracted to cheap mortgage rates which in most of the times happens to be a discount or tracker mortgage. However, there is a subtle but important difference between tracker mortgage rate and discount mortgage. While discount rates are connected with the standard variable rate of the mortgage provider, a tracker mortgage is linked with the base rate of Bank of England. A tracker mortgage mirrors the current financial situation and its interest rates are cheaper than fixed mortgage rates. If you are looking for small payments at the early stages and willing to take the risk of higher payments in the future, then tracker mortgage are best suited for a person like you. However, like all loans, you must read the fine print before opting for tracker mortgage. If the interest rate is set well below the base point for 2 years, you can have some lenders stating that they will assess the situation once the base rate falls too low or some even mentions that you have to a pay a minimum rate if the interest falls much below expectation. Such conditions defeat the entire purpose of opting for a tracker mortgage. You have to be intelligent to know when to go in for a tracker, fixed or capped rate option. At a time when chances of base rate falling are very high in 2009, it would be only but foolish not to opt for a tracker rate mortgage. As a borrower, you can also look for trackers that provide a drop lock choice which enables you to move to a fixed rate any time you wish. So now is the right time to opt for tracker mortgage rate with interest rates falling sharply. By Nancy Dodds of Financemate.co.uk ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
Insurance For Loans - Are You Paying Too Much?
When you are discussing insurance for loans, there?s one thing you have to keep in mind. The person selling you the insurance has no interest in keeping your costs down. The more you pay, the better for them! In actual fact, the majority of people end up paying far more than they need to for their loan insurance. So what can you do to make sure you don?t pay too much? Here are some suggestions. 1. First and foremost, remember that there is no need to purchase your insurance from the provider of the loan. In most cases, you are better advised to look for a free-standing PPI (payment protection insurance) ? an insurance broker can advise you about buying these. You can usually use just one of these to cover all your loans and credit agreements, so you don?t have to take out a separate policy for each one. What?s more, they are much less expensive. A policy from the lender will usually be quoted at between £10 and £30 per £100 of the loan amount, whereas some PPIs are quoted at £1-£2 per £100. A big difference! 2. There are various things you can cover for in a loan insurance policy. Most people find that some of the contingencies covered in the policy are irrelevant to them, so they are actually wasting money. Look for a good policy that will allow you to insure for only the elements that apply to you. For example, if you are not employed, there is no point in paying for cover against being made redundant. 3. Be careful how you pay your premium. Don?t pay it all as a lump sum up front, or you won?t get any of it back if you pay off the loan early. And if you are buying the lender?s insurance, don?t let them roll it into the loan. This means you will pay interest on the insurance as well as the loan! Have the actual premium instalments added to your monthly statement or even better, buy a loan insurance policy from an independent provider. Insurance for loans can be very beneficial ? it can provide peace of mind, and greatly relieve the stress of unwelcome life events such as accidents, serious illness or redundancy. However, it can also add considerably to the cost of the loan if you?re not careful. Many people just pay up without realising that they are paying too much. Don?t be like them ? think what you could do with the extra cash! ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
Mortgage Payment Insurance - Can You Really Do Without It?
If your income stopped for any reason ? redundancy, illness, accident ? would you be able to keep paying your mortgage? Without mortgage repayment insurance, quite possibly not. At the moment, with more and more businesses folding and more and more jobs being lost, this is a real issue. Can you be sure you won?t be next? If your employer goes bust, you may well not even get a redundancy payment. Up until recently, many people were very wary of mortgage repayment insurance. It was often mis-sold or turned out to be a waste of money. However, the government has forced a shake-up in the mortgage repayment insurance market, and now there are minimum standards that policies must meet or exceed. You can now buy a policy with much more confidence that it will be suitable for your requirements. So who are the people who should especially consider mortgage repayment insurance? ? You may have stretched yourself financially with your mortgage ? many people in the past decade have been forced to do this in order to get on the property ladder at all. ? You may have little or no equity in your property. In fact if you originally borrowed a high loan-to-value amount and the value of your property has now fallen, you may well have negative equity. If you suddenly lost your income, there would be no possibility of remortgaging to tide you over. ? If you are employed in a sector where demand is falling, or that is dependent on demand in other areas of the economy, you do need to take precautions against possible loss of income. For instance, the automotive sector is reporting considerable reduction in demand. If a local car manufacturer goes out of business or reduces output, this will affect dozens of other supplier firms in the area. In turn this will affect other companies such as travel firms who are dependent on high employment for their own level of demand. It?s no good waiting until there is an actual threat to your own job before taking out mortgage repayment insurance ? it will then be too late. ? Does your employer have a proper sickness payment policy in place (i.e. one that continues to pay all or part of your salary when you?re off sick)? If you?re not sure, ask ? you?re entitled to know. Talk to the Human Resources department or your union representative. State sickness benefit will certainly not cover your mortgage payments, so if you won?t get sick pay you need insurance. Remember you don?t need to get the mortgage payment insurance from your mortgage lender. A standalone policy is likely to be more suitable and you should be able to find one to fit your individual requirements. Talk to a broker who will help you shop around and find one that will give you value for money ? and, of course, peace of mind! ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
Unsecured Credit - Avoiding repossession
The last thirteen years or so have been good times for the economy and consumers alike. Plenty of cheaply available credit has made us all feel richer than we are and as a result many of us have spent like crazy, providing fuel for an insatiable economy and housing market. Well someone has cut the fuel pipe and the lifeblood of the economy has simply drained away; it?s clear now why this has happened. Let?s get the state of the economy in perspective, the last time that The Bank of England set the Base rate at 3%, rationing of food in Britain had just ended. Those were difficult times economically, our time could in fact be worse. One thing is certain; the number of redundancies will grow very rapidly in the coming months. What happens if we lose our income and are unable to meet our commitments? Well if you had watched Panorama on the 10.11.2008, ?can?t pay, wont pay?, you would have been surprised to learn that failure to pay can result in an order for sale of your property. But how? If you owe somebody money and they have a CCJ entered against you, which you do not satisfy, the lender can apply to the courts for a Warrant of Execution. The court bailiff will attempt to satisfy the judgement by seizing goods to the value of the judgment. If they are unable to do this, the ?person? to whom the money is owed can apply to the courts for a Charging Order, charging your property with the debt; effectively turning an un-secured debt into a secured debt. If still you fail to pay, they can apply to the court for an order for sale. Disturbing, and it would seem that more lenders in the current climate are employing heavy handed tactics, using hard nosed lawyers, that have partnership names like ? wolf? and ? grizzly?; gives you an indication of their likely approach How can you ensure that your debts are paid, when you are not in a position to pay them? An Accident, Sickness and Unemployment policy or ASU policy can help. These policies are specifically designed pay a monthly benefit should you be made unemployed through no fault of your own, or you are incapacitated due to an accident or sickness. In the event of a claim under an Accident, sickness and unemployment policy the monthly benefit will be paid directly to you, so you can prioritise its use as you feel fit. Normally payable for up to 12 months if needed, the benefit is tax free under current HMRC rules. An Accident, Sickness and Unemployment policy does exactly what it says in the literature, so read the Key facts document and policy conditions carefully. If you have elected to include the Accident and Sickness insurance cover element, do make sure that you disclose all pre existing medical conditions. The rule is, if in doubt, disclose. They are actually not too expensive for the cover that they provide, but as always avoid the policies offered through the Bank?s. A good ASU policy can keep your life and your credit on an even keel, while you find a job or recover from illness. ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
How Do You Know If Your Loan Insurance Has Been Mis-sold?
Most of us have taken out some form of loan at some time. This means that most of us have at least been offered loan insurance. This is a policy to protect your payments if something happens to your income. This seems a good idea and the policies are very popular. However, recently it has become clear that a lot of loan insurance policies have actually been mis-sold. In fact a lot of apparently reputable companies have been fined for bad practice in this respect. It?s particularly tempting to mis-sell these policies as the commission is good, and most customers don?t like to say no. So how do you know if you have been mis-sold a loan insurance policy? And if you are thinking of taking one out, how do you recognise mis-selling? Here are some examples of bad practice to look out for. 1. You are told that you have to have the loan insurance policy to get the loan. This simply isn?t true. You don?t have to have it at all, and if you do have it, it doesn?t need to be from the same provider. 2. Excessive pressure is used by a pushy sales person to bully you into taking the loan insurance. They might suggest you are irresponsible if you don?t take it, or just make it impossible for you to leave without signing up. This is bad sales practice and can constitute mis-selling. 3. You are sold loan insurance that is largely or totally irrelevant to your needs. For instance, a policy that insures against being unable to repay the loan because of redundancy, is irrelevant for you if you are self-employed, retired, or in employment with a no-redundancy agreement, such as local government. 4. You are not given the opportunity to look at the small print before committing yourself to the policy. You could find after signing up that a medical condition from which you suffer is explicitly excluded. 5. One of the most blatant examples of mis-selling: the policy is actually included in the loan without asking you, and you don?t find out until it?s too late! If you have already taken out loan insurance and any of these apply to you, you could qualify for compensation. Contact your seller or talk to a broker to find out what to do. If you are likely to purchase a policy in the near future, be forewarned and don?t let yourself be a victim. Loan insurance can be a valuable product that can give you peace of mind and come to your rescue when things get difficult. It?s sad that a few people chasing commissions have given it a bad name! ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
Personal Loan Insurance - Simple Rules To Protect Yourself
If you have taken out any form of loan or credit the chances are you will have been offered personal loan insurance. The type of insurance is similar whether it?s a mortgage or a bank loan, a store card or a new car. The insurance may be similar but the way in which it is offered varies greatly from one provider to another. ? Some providers will give you the impression that taking the insurance is a condition of getting the loan. ? Others will give you a very hard sell, making you feel it?s impossible to say no. ? Some will simply say, ?Would you like to protect your monthly payments?? ? to which, of course you will say ?Yes?. But there?s no attempt to look at your specific circumstances to see if the policy actually will protect you. ? There are some providers who will actually add the insurance policy to the loan without telling you! You may find this incredible, but it does happen quite frequently. You don?t actually realise you have paid for the insurance until you receive the paperwork a couple of weeks later ? by which time, cancelling can be quite difficult. ? There are of course those who will politely ask you if you would like personal loan insurance and won?t push you either way. But as there is good commission on these policies, such people are in a minority! Of course, it can be quite important to have a personal loan insurance policy in place. If you find yourself unable to make your payments, it can be disastrous. At best it can cause you severe stress and can adversely affect your credit rating. At worst you can lose your belongings or even your house. So insurance can be important. But it?s quite possible to find yourself paying more than you need, or even end up with a policy that is of little or no use to you. So here are some rules to follow to help you protect yourself against unnecessary expense. ? Don?t take any notice of anyone who tells you that you can?t have the loan without taking out the insurance. You can take the loan with no insurance, or you can take the insurance from a different provider. ? If you decide you do need a personal loan insurance policy, you are usually better taking out a standalone policy from an independent provider. These are usually much cheaper, and you can adapt the loan to your specific needs. Ask your independent broker how to find one. ? If you do take out a policy, don?t pay with a single lump-sum premium up front. This can make it hard to get any of your premium back if you pay off the loan early. On the other hand, if you are taking the lender?s own insurance, make sure they don?t roll the premium payment into the cost of the loan. This would mean you were paying extra interest throughout the term of the loan. What you want is for the premium instalments to be added to the monthly statement. ? Always remember that the person selling you the insurance is not concerned with your personal circumstances. The onus is on you to check whether the policy is suitable for your needs. For instance, if you are self-employed or retired, a policy insuring against redundancy would be a waste of money. A personal loan insurance policy that is suited to your needs and circumstances can be of great benefit to you if the worst happens. If you follow these simple rules, you?ll enjoy protection and won?t pay too much for the privilege! ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
Getting Best value Investment Advice
If you are a first-time investor, and you need guidance about building your investment portfolio, it makes sense to look for investment advice. Obviously, people who provide investment advice do charge a fee. You may be tempted to avoid paying the fee and make your own decisions. This isn?t usually a good idea. However, if you are going to pay for investment advice, you want to be sure you?re getting value for money. So what can you expect to receive as part of best-value investment advice? 1. Setting goals. There is very little value in looking for investment advice in a vacuum. A good adviser will initially spend time assessing your general financial situation, and finding out your goals and aspirations. You may not actually have thought about setting goals, in which case the adviser may help you to think through what you are looking for ? e.g. where do you want to be financially in 10, or 20 years? time, or in retirement? More specifically the adviser will look at whether you are interested in investing for capital growth, income, or both. 2. Attitude to risk. Investors often tell financial advisers that they would like high-returning products, without fully understanding that the higher the return, the higher the risk. Of course, all investment carries some risk but some products are much more risky than others, and these are usually the ones with the highest potential return. The adviser should assess whether you are ?a bit of a gambler? and enjoy the excitement of risk and reward, or if you are risk-averse and cautious. 3. Asset classes. Most investment portfolios are spread across a mix of four asset classes: cash; fixed interest securities; property; and equities. Many advisers believe that the way your portfolio is shared among these asset classes is a major determinant of the performance of your investments. The risk levels of the asset classes vary considerably, so the way your funds are allocated will depend to some extent on your attitude to risk. 4. Choosing your funds. Good investment advisers maintain constant research into performance of funds. They also use sophisticated software to arrive at the best possible forecasts of future performance of products, based on current performance and trends. The adviser should recommend the most suitable products for you in each asset class, based on their performance and on your own profile. 5. Review. Investment advice should never be a one-off affair. You should expect to have an ongoing relationship with your adviser, as investment products certainly don?t remain static. The optimum frequency for a review is probably once a year. More often than that may not be the best idea ? it can be easy to panic if one of your funds is not doing well in the short term, but after a year it?s easier to see the underlying trend. The review can also look at the asset spread and rebalance your portfolio across the asset classes if necessary. When you are looking for investment advice, you should visit more than one adviser and discuss all these issues in your free introductory interview. Don?t feel under any obligation to use the first adviser you go to. You should have several discussions and you will soon get the feel of who will offer the best-value investment advice for your money. ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.
Nursing Home Finance - Make Sure You Have What It Takes
If you are looking for nursing home finance, it is possible that you are already in the nursing home business and seeking to expand. On the other hand, you may be a newcomer to the business and hoping to buy your first nursing home. If you are a newcomer, you may not have realised that the nursing home business isn?t quite as straightforward as other types of business. Before applying for your nursing home finance, there are some things you need to be aware of. 1. First of all, consider whether you are the right sort of person to run this kind of business. Remember that it?s not a business with precise opening hours like a pub or shop ? it?s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You do need an interest in working with people, and in this specific client group. Many people who go into the nursing home business are doctors or nurses who are interested in a business venture. 2. If you are sure that you want to start in the nursing home business, you are far better advised to purchase an existing business, rather than try to convert a property and start a nursing home from scratch. This might be a profitable venture once you have gained the experience and want to expand. However, for a newcomer it would be a nightmare. For a start, you would need a development loan for the conversion, and there would almost certainly be all sorts of unexpected snags with the original property. On top of this, there are all manner of stringent structural regulations that a building has to comply with before it can be accepted as a nursing home ? room size, safety factors, disabled access, lifts etc. It would be hard for you as a newcomer to look at a potential property and assess how it would convert to meet the regulations. You would almost certainly find you had bitten off more than you could chew. 3. Once you have found a suitable business that is for sale, the first thing you must do is look at the accounts for the last three years or so ? or preferably get an accountant to do it. If the seller won?t show you the accounts, walk away. The accounts will show you the potential profitability of the business. Of course, when you apply for your nursing home finance, the lenders will want to see this information. If the business is clearly in decline, there is no point in wasting time applying for the finance. 4. If you don?t have the qualifications to register yourself as a care manager, you will have to employ a qualified person to do this job. This will have implications for the size of the building as there will need to be adequate accommodation for both yourself and the manager to be resident. You may decide that as the owner you don?t want to be resident. If you aren?t resident, remember that you still have the ultimate responsibility, so you need to be contactable 24/7, and able to be there quickly in case of emergency. When you apply for your nursing home finance, the lenders will want to satisfy themselves that you have thought all these things through. They are all important for the success of your business and hence for the security of the loan! Of course, they will also check that the property meets all the regulations and minimum care standards. Recent changes in regulations have made life more difficult for nursing home owners and put a lot of people off. This means the market is wide open. If you have what it takes, there?s no reason why you shouldn?t be able to run a very successful business. ©2008 Enhanced Wealth News. All Rights Reserved.