Mortgages

The FSA has defended its position regarding lenders that slap unfair charges on mortgage customers in arrears after criticism by MPs in the Treasury Committee.

Remortgaging advice searches on Unbiased.co.uk increased to 33% of all consumer requests in June.

Mortgage lenders have been using arrears charges as an alternative profit stream, to the detriment of struggling families, according to MPs.

House prices will end 2009 higher than they started the year due to price rises in certain areas over the past few months, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

House prices experienced their first quarterly rise since October 2007 as an increasing demand for properties and a shortage of availability supported the market, according to the latest Halifax house price index.

Mortgage brokers are broadly optimistic about their business prospects for the next 12 months, research from RBS Intermediary Partners (RBS IP) shows.

The FSA has banned a mortgage broker for submitting remortgage applications with false information.

Northern Rock has made a loss of £724.2m in the first half of the year due to a rise in arrears and writedowns.

House prices are predicted to rise 20% by 2014 due to a lack of supply and increased demand, according to the latest forecast from the National Housing Federation (NHF).

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) says it expects an influx of claims against mortgage brokers in 2009/10 after banking failures saw it pay out more than £21bn in total in the last financial year.