Following the decision of the Bank of England to increase its base rate to 0.75%, Skipton Building Society has announced that it will not pass on the increase to its customers on Standard Variable Rate (SVR) or Mortgage Variable Rate (MVR). It will, however, implement rate increases on the majority of its variable savings products. Skipton said that these changes will take effect on March 31 and that full details of the increases on individual savings products will be published on Skipton’s website by March 25. “With households facing the highest inflation rate for many years and customers fac ..read more

Investment management company Elliott Advisors has acquired a majority stake in Watford-based Enra Specialist Finance. The deal, which was announced by Enra on Thursday, is subject to FCA approval. Elliott is purchasing the stake from management and Exponent Private Equity, which has owned Enra for five years and is now exiting its ownership position completely. Several global investment companies reportedly competed to acquire Enra, and the deal with Elliot was decided on after a relatively quick but competitive process. “In Elliott, we have found a partner that has deep experience in the UK ..read more

Two of the top building societies in the UK have pledged their support to the Ukraine humanitarian cause. Yorkshire Building Society has announced that it is making a £50,000 donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. “The priority in Ukraine now is to help people with access to clean water, health care, and immediate support. The experts in organisations like the DEC are clear that in these circumstances, right here, right now, immediate financial support for their efforts on the ground is what will make the most difference. We can step up to provide re ..read more

The easing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions has prompted a return to aspirational spending for lifetime mortgage customers as data analysis has shown an increase in lifestyle-focused spending. According to internal data from Legal & General Home Finance (LGHF), more lifetime mortgage customers are using their property wealth to fund lifestyle expenses such as travel. Combined statistics from January and February 2022 show that the proportion of customers seeking to use lifetime mortgages to fund holidays and travel has almost tripled in comparison to the same period in 2021 – 20% in 2022 ..read more

A new platform aimed at reducing the time between offer and exchange by up to eight weeks has been launched by newly formed firm, YouConvey. The conveyancing service, which was itself launched only last month, unveiled the new app this week, claiming it will revolutionise the conveyancing industry. Read more: Start-up to speed up conveyancing process. It said the service will allow home movers to take control of the lengthy conveyancing process, resulting in a quicker and more transparent transaction. According to experts, conveyancing, the legal process of transferring the ownership of a prop ..read more

Energy prices are expected to rise by over 50% come April 2022, according to energy regulator Ofgem. It is believed that energy bills will increase 14 times faster than wages over the course of 2022. “The impact that further energy price hikes will have on over-55s in the UK is likely to be substantial, especially with rising inflation,” according to Stuart Wilson, corporate marketing director, more2life. Retirees are in a particularly vulnerable position as many are unable to increase their contracted hours, switch careers or work to secure a pay rise in the same way that the working populati ..read more

Enquiries about adult care are being left untracked, leaving local councils at risk of sudden surges in demand for care and pressures on their already strained budgets, later life finance specialist Key has said. Freedom of Information data revealed that the number of local authorities that record enquiries from members of the public looking for adult care has dropped 18% from the previous year, with councils in the East Midlands, East of England, and the South East failing to keep data. “Today’s report highlights the extreme pressure that local councils are under and the hard choices that the ..read more

Paul Fryers is managing director at Zephyr Homeloans Our latest figures suggest that landlords are increasingly likely to invest in properties in the North of England. Around 20% of all Zephyr deals now relate to property in either the North West and Yorkshire. These regions are also now jointly the third most popular for landlords to secure a Zephyr BTL mortgage. Yorkshire in particular also appears to be attracting a large number of professional landlords, with our figures showing 50% more property purchased through limited companies than by individual landlords in Yorkshire between 2018 and ..read more

The Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL) has announced the date for its annual conference, which will return to an in-person format this year. The ASTL Annual Conference will be held on October 20, 2022, at the RSA House in Central London. “It has been quite some time since we have been able to hold a full-scale annual conference in person, so we wanted to get in early to confirm the details for this year’s event,” Vic Jannels, ASTL chief executive, said. Like in 2020, last year’s ASTL conference was held as a virtual conference, as COVID-19 protocols and restrictions forced organisers to ..read more

Paradigm Protect, which is part of Paradigm Mortgage Services, has become the first directly authorised distributor to add HSBC Life to its panel. “We’re very pleased to be able to announce that Paradigm Protect is the first DA distribution club to have access to HSBC Life’s range of protection products,” Mike Allison, head of protection at Paradigm, said. “The need for protection has perhaps never been so great, given the harsh reality of what the pandemic has meant for many people’s incomes and jobs.” HSBC Life has a selection of short- and long-term protection products for life and critical ..read more