June 30, 2008
Halifax charges £245 to apply for a mortgage
With mortgage lenders having recently been heavily criticised by industry watchdogs for how they raised finance from mortgage exit penalties, Halifax has now introduced a new way of getting at mortgage applicant’s money – a mortgage entry fee. The fee which has to be paid once the mortgage has been completed, has been set at £245.00. Halifax stated that the money will be used to pay for administrative and any other costs associated with opening the mortgage account , form completion and shutting down the account when the mortgage term has ended.
With the housing market still under pressure from the credit crunch there will be little or no surprise if other major mortgage providers use the same approach as Halifax in an attempt to raise as much finance as possible at the expense of consumers. However, industry regulators may intervene ,even if mortgage applicants accept that they have to pay the fee.