We won’t have cheap credit for ‘a number of years to come’

According to a financial analyst, Brits will not be seeing the days of cheap credit “for a number of years to come”.

Darren Cook, a spokesperson for Moneyfacts.co.uk, said that some experts have predicted the Bank of England base rate will increase another three times before the end of the year.

“These uncertainties, paired with the house price adjustments and many households finding themselves in negative equity, [means] lenders are prudently hedging themselves on pricing due to fears of a massive increase in the probability of default,” Mr Cook commented.

In related news, Experian recently advised consumers looking to secure a loan to check their credit report first.

By doing so, consumer education manager at the organisation James Jones said that consumers give themselves a better chance of their loan application being accepted as they can make sure that the information on their report is correct before it is checked by a lender.

Tags: England base rate, James Jones, Darren Cook, Brits, loan, bank of england, personal finance

Green mortgage sales to remain ’static’ in the wake of the credit crunch

It is unlikely that lenders will begin to offer green mortgage products in the near future following the effects of the credit crunch, one financial expert has claimed.

Moneyfacts said that there has been no big change in the number of lenders offering the products over the past four or five months.

However, Darren Cook, head of mortgages for Moneyfacts, said that there is still a demand for the products in the marketplace.

“But the lenders that are in [that market] are generally motivated by social responsibility; it’s due to their company ethics that they supply these products,” he said.

Because of this the firm say that lenders who are already dealing in this sector will have a tendency to stay.

At present only five lenders offer green mortgage products: the Co-operative Bank, Ecology Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough, Giraffe and The Hanley Economic Building Society.

The criteria of these products range from planting 40 trees for every green mortgage taken out to donations to carbon offsetting charities.

Tags: The Co-operative Bank, tendency, credit crunch, big change, Co-operative, Darren Cook, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, charities