In many instances

standard variable rate (SVR ) is lower than the rate that had been paid during the initial deal. That’s the reason for many borrowers whose current deal is coming to an end to choose between  taking out a new deal or moving to their lender’s SVR.

Sometimes the mortgages arrangement fee cannot be justified due to the risk of defaulting so it must be due to the risk of interest rates rising.

Asking yourself if you should  insure against mortgage hike? There is only one answer:

Unfortunately there isn’t  any insurance that will protect against a rate increase.

Choosing to move to your lender’s SVR for the time being you should consider setting up a savings account in which the difference between your old and new lower monthly payment could be saved.

This money can be utilised in a future event of a of a sudden rate increase, giving you a buffer,  while you are looking for a new deal.

The only way to ensure that your monthly payment remains the same, regardless of any rate increase, is to move from your current deal onto a fixed-rate deal. But, even financial experts can’t agree on the way ahead.

Borrowers are facing unprecedented uncertainty over the future path of interest rates, which means a tough choice between low-rate tracker mortgages and the security of more costly fixed-rate deals.

Accordinding with L&C the tracker would be the best choice in terms of total repayments over the five years if interest rates rose at a slow, steady pace, but the fix would be better if rates rose sharply.

 Homeowners with low SVRs of 2.5% should also stay put. The  research shows that on any SVR at 4% or higher you could end up paying more than on a five-year fixed rate by the end of the term (in this „steady” scenario) and should consider remortgaging.

Government offers incentives to those homeowners willing to considered self-generation of energy.

An long-term investment for those who are willing to consider taking a proactive stance on energy conservation in their homes have the opportunity to create a great situation for themselves and the environment.  To those who are willing to install solar PV systems in their homes, which costs approximately £12,500 to install, can take advantage of a combined incentive offer from the government.  This incentive plan will be running from this month until April 2010.

So what is this incentive plan we are talking about?  While the upfront costs can seems a little steep, the first part of the incentive plan is to offer homeowners a grant up to £2,500 to assist in alleviating that initial cost.  Not enough to get you to really consider choosing solar PV’s?  No worries.  In addition to the grant, there is a benefit that truly makes this option worth your while.  It is a cash back offer around £1,000 yearly for doing your part in creating new, clean energy. This cash back offer can help refinance older mortgages, take the strain off current mortgages or simply open up cash flow for other future investments.

If you really take time to look at the costs, it will quickly show that not only will your investment be returned in full after a few years, but you actually begin making a profit. Remember to take into account that with your yearly cash incentive by generating your own power, your overall energy bill will begin to decrease as well.  This is an offer that is packed with pros and lacking cons. How many investments are guaranteed to offer end profits during stressful economic times, and are considered helpful to all parties involved?  The answer is practically zero.  In this situation, the homeowner, government, and environment all take a place in the winners seat.

The recession is certainly taking a hit on all facets of UK living from the amount that mortgage rates are currently offered to the price houses, which seem to be falling.

One of the other areas that seems to be hit the hardest is the unemployment rate which seems to be at its worst since 1995.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in the second quarter of this year, they have finally reported that some 2.43 million are unemployed which is an increase of approximately 220-thousand individuals.

According to the Office, the unemployment rate was 7.8% for the three months up into June of 2009. That’s a jump of around 0.7% from the previous quarter. Vacancy rates are not included with this count however that means that there are quite a few additional jobs which aren’t being filled.

The Office also says that average earnings, without bonuses, has fallen from the previous quarter. When you included the bonuses, however, the rate has increased.

Statistics also show that the employment rate for individuals of a working age is around 73% for the three months leading to June of 2009, which has been a decline of almost 1% from the previous quarter and 2% when you include the whole year.

The statistics also show that some 28.9-million individuals have applied for unemployment benefits over the quarter ending June 2009 but not all of them are on the roles as of yet. The annual growth rate, excluding bonuses, is the lowest since the Office has been collecting the information which began in 2001.

The next update for the Office for National Statistics to update their information will be when the quarter ends in late September 2009 and that should give a better direction of where unemployment is heading in the country even though we receive monthly figures in between.

A string of companies including Ingard, Exclusive Connections, SimplyBiz, The Mortgage Alliance, Stirling & Law and Genesis Home Loans, as well as Mortgage 2000 ‘Encore’ users, have contributed to the rapid growth by selecting Mortgage Brain as their preferred solution for mortgage sourcing. Mark Lofthouse, CEO of Mortgage Brain, comments, “With this announcement we want the mortgage industry to know that we’re the only sourcing company prepared to offer guaranteed mortgage product details with the launch of Mortgage Brain Premier Plus+. With its release, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of companies and mortgage advisers exclusively selecting our products and services.”

He continued by saying,“Intermediaries have been asking for guaranteed product data and we’re delighted to be the first and only sourcing system to deliver it, ensuring they have the confidence in the system they use is of paramount importance and a huge deciding factor when choosing software solutions to help manage their businesses.”

He finished by saying, “Quite simply, mortgage advisers are turning to Mortgage Brain as they see us as the best and most reliable sourcing system on the market and one in which they can confidently place their trust.”

Premier Plus+ is Mortgage Brain’s new and innovative mortgage sourcing system, which guarantees product data to give intermediaries complete confidence in the advice they give their client.

The Bank of England confirmed the expectations of many when it decided to hold the base rate down to 0.5% again for the fifth straight month in a row.

Analysts are predicting that this base rate isn’t going to change anytime soon as long as unemployment is high and the recession still looms.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to pump another 50-billion pounds into the system to help get banks on their feet again.

The low base rate is a boon for tracker mortgages as they are based off of the base rate with an added percentage of interest added to the number. There is approximately 3-million homeowners with tracker mortgages who have made out on this deal.

Fixed rate mortgage owners aren’t seeing much in the benefit of a low base rate as many homeowners had their rate locked down before the base rate began to fall. Companies, such as Nationwide, cut their rates this past week for future borrowers but that doesn’t do much for those who have already locked in their rate for some time to come.

According to Moneysupermarket, “The cheapest two-year fixed rate deal on the market is currently from First Direct, priced at 3.34% and with a 1,498-pounds arrangement fee. However, the deal is reserved for homeowners who only need to borrow 60% of the property value.”

According to the company, 90% deals are becoming increasingly difficult to ascertain. To receive a deal like that you’ll need to have an excellent credit rating and employment that is quite secure to gain that type of mortgage.

According to the Building Cost Information Service of RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), tenders prices remain depressed. The main reason behind this is that the construction workloads continue to fall basically because of the current recession.

According to their figures, new construction fell by some 4.9% in the first quarter of the year when you compare it with figures in 2008. BCIS also predicts that the tender prices could see a total fall of some 14.9% by 2011 and that is when they figure that they will recover somewhat.

On a good note, costs don’t seem to be climbing at the same rate. According to their figures, we’ve only seen a 4% incline in pricing, compared to the 7.7% seen in the previous quarter.

According to the survey, construction should continue to fall for the remainder of this year, doing slightly better in 2010. This year expect another fall of some 6.1% according to the data. Growth is expected again in 2011 and should rise by approximately 0.5%.

Joe Martin, the Executive Director of BCIS commented, “Despite some more positive news coming from the construction industry recently, it is clear that we are a long way from being out of the woods. Workloads are still significantly down on previous levels, with the private sector still set to bear the brunt of the decline. As a result it is likely that the price of construction work is going to continue falling for some time. However some of the pressure is easing on the costs side, which will be welcome news to those contractors who had perhaps priced too competitively.”

Although it hasn’t been seen often, there is always a chance that a landlord could be involved in racial discrimination when letting out a home or apartment. There are laws against this type of action but there is always the opportunity that this could happen.

Recently, the NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) made a statement about this practice when it concerns its members.

Peter Bolton King, the Chief Executive of the organization made a statement about this practice, “NAEA is committed to setting the highest standards for lettings professionals, for the benefit of both the general public and the wider industry.”

He continued, “NAEA members must comply with our Rules of Conduct. Our Code of Practice for Lettings Agents makes it very clear that any form of discrimination is unacceptable and will not be tolerated: Rule 1e states ‘You must offer equality of professional service to any person, regardless of their race, religious belief, gender, sexuality, disability or nationality. You must not be involved in any plan or arrangement to discriminate against a person or people because of their race, religious belief, gender, sexuality, disability or nationality.’”

He ended by saying, “Racial discrimination is appalling behavior, which may be illegal. A letting agent simply cannot assist a landlord with refusing a tenant due to racial motivations. NAEA has asked the BBC to share any information it has that indicates misconduct by NAEA members. NAEA may take disciplinary action, which could lead to membership being withdrawn.”

The NAEA seems pretty stern in its belief and action that discrimination should not take place within its membership.

Northern Rock has declared an underlying loss to the tune of 269.6 million pounds for the period ending June 30, 2009. This compares with a lost of 443.3 million that they had lost for the first half of 2008. The company doesn’t think that number will change much when it rolls around to the end of the year if much change at all.

Part of the loss was the rebate of charges incurred for State funding, albeit the help that they received from the federal government.

Their record for lending for mortgage lending and other loans was quite substantial, where their record for gross residential lending as 1.3-billion pounds to the general public through June of 2009. The overall expected lending for the year is forecast to be near 4-billion pounds rather than the 5-billion that they had projected.

Deposits were quite respectable, with the amount of 18.4-billion pounds at the end of the half year however this is somewhat lower than the 19.6-billion pounds that it had during the beginning of the new year.

Gary Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer said this about the company, "The current environment continues to be challenging, however, against this backdrop Northern Rock is making progress against its revised plan and has delivered results in line with expectations. We anticipate receiving State aid approval in the autumn and the legal and capital restructuring of the Company to be completed by the end of the year. This ultimately prepares for a return to the private sector."

The company is splitting itself up into two companies. One handling deposits and new loans and the other will handle existing loans as well as paying back the money that it owes to the government for loans that it received.

Landlords let their apartments and houses rent for a certain monthly fee so that they can continue to pay for the property, pay expenses and garner some income for themselves.

They depend on the tenants to keep up to day with the rental fees that they charge.

According to research company BDRC there is a certain amount of the population that have fallen behind in their rent payments causing duress for the landlords.

According to the research, the 18% arrears figure that was reported in the first quarter of 2008 has grown to approximately 30% some fifteen months later. 32% of those that were in arrears resulted in direct action by their landlords and this included the eviction process.

The eviction process can be a long drawn out process that includes giving proper notices and then taking the tenant through court to have them removed, if they don’t do that by themselves.

On the other hand, 19% of those landlords survey felt that the prospect was good that they would have a good rental record for their properties in the upcoming quarter.

One of the reasons that landlords are experiencing this type of environment is due to the recession and the amount of unemployment that is currently being felt throughout the country.

BDRC also said that landlords are experiencing arrears like they never have had happened since they started tracking that market in 2006.

Markit and YouGov have announced the launch of the Markit/YouGov Household Finance Index(HFI), a new survey designed to provide the earliest and most accurate indication of actual changes inhousehold finances each month. The HFI is intended to anticipate changes in consumer behaviour accurately.

The survey tracks objective “hard data” on actual month-on-month changes, focusing on household spending, saving and debt levels, but also includes several forward-looking opinion questions to help anticipate future trends.

The Markit/YouGov HFI is the first in a series of polls and indices which will combine Markit’s and YouGov’s respective experience in business and consumer sector surveys.

The survey signalled a further deterioration in finances on a month ago in June, continuing the trend that has been seen since the survey data were first collected in February. Some 32% of  respondents noted a worsening of their financial situation compared to a month ago while just 6% reported an improvement.

However, the resulting “net” deterioration in finances indicated by the June survey was less than recorded in any of the previous four months, wth the HFI for the current month rising for the third successive month to 37.5, up from 36.5 in May.

The deterioration in the outlook for finances was attributable to an increase in job insecurity, which rose compared to May but remained less widespread than in the spring.

Concern over jobs reflected a further fall in business activity at respondents’ workplaces and a corresponding drop in income from employment, which have both fallen over the five months since the survey started. However, in both cases, rates of decline were less steep than in early spring.