Two of the UK's biggest lenders have reduced their lending rates this week and increased the range of deals available to broker clients. Abbey for Intermediaries, part of the Santander group, and Halifax have improved their deals this week and the changes have been welcomed by mortgage brokers.
Halifax cuts rates and fees for many mortgage deals
As the ‘mortgage war' between lenders intensifies, Halifax has recently slashed the rates and fees on some of their deals. First-time buyers looking for a two-year fixed rate at either 80% or 85% loan-to-value will now not pay any booking fee for the deal, while fixed-rate deals for other clients have been reduced by up to 0.2%.
Keith Osborne from whathouse.co.uk says: "These new deals represent great value for both first-time buyers and borrowers looking to move home. The three-year fixed rates now start at 3.94%, while two-year deals now start at 3.39%. While it is great news that Halifax has removed the product fee on their first-time buyer deals, borrowers should still shop around for the best overall package. Sometimes it can actually be beneficial to pay an arrangement fee if it secures a much lower interest rate."
Santander also makes market leading deals available to more broker clients
As well as the new Halifax deals, another leading lender has also increased the number of low-rate mortgages available to borrowers. Abbey for Intermediaries, the broker arm of Santander, has made two of its market-leading products available to a wide range of brokers.
Abbey have extended the availability of their three-year fixed rate with a rate of 2.99% and their five-year fix with a rate of 3.49%. Both deals have a £1,495 fee and are available to 60% loan to value for both purchases and remortgages. Both products also come with either the Homebuyer or Remortgage Solution. The Homebuyer Solution offers the added benefits of a free standard mortgage valuation and £250 cashback on completion while the Remortgage Solution offers a free standard mortgage valuation and either free legals or £250 cashback on completion.
Miguel Sard, managing director of Abbey for Intermediaries, said: "We are delighted to make these fantastic deals available to even more of our key account partners and their clients. We've seen strong demand for these fixed-rate products since their launch and we are pleased to support the intermediary market by increasing their availability even further."
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