Cheltenham & Gloucester

A Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage adviser has admitted to helping two brothers fraudulently obtain mortgages worth £700,000 by ignoring discrepancies on their loan applications.

Variable rate mortgage lenders are failing to pass on cuts in the base rate to customers, meaning some will face "real financial difficulty" when rates climb again, research suggests.

Lloyds-owned mortgage provider Cheltenham & Gloucester is to stop accepting applications via its intermediary business at the end of the month.

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is to introduce a Homeowner Variable Rate of initially 3.99% for new Lloyds TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) mortgages from 1 June.

Moneyfacts has revealed that state-funded banks charged higher than average rates on their products over the last year, despite the Bank of England base rate remaining at 0.5%.

Nearly one in three mortgage deals on the market are currently broker-only as lenders continue to make a commitment to the intermediary market, research suggests.