The best mortgage deals!

Another fortnight, another raft of new mortgage deals launched. Find out which is the best mortgage deal for you!

After a quiet summer the mortgage market is really hotting up with new deals being launched on an almost daily basis.

So what's new?

Abbey has cut rates twice in the last fortnight and currently has an especially strong range, topping or almost topping a few mortgage categories (see tables below).

It is launching a new first-time buyer only deal up to 90% loan-to-value (LTV) - in other words you only need a 10% deposit. The three-year fixed rate is 5.99% and has a £495 fee. It also offers £250 cashback and a free valuation and is only available through branches and its phoneline. This matches some of the best rates at 90% but has been pipped by Chorley & District Building Society (see table) - David versus the mortgage Goliath.

Abbey has also reduced its purchase and remortgage trackers by 0.3%, now starting at 2.94% (Base Rate + 2.44%) for a 75% deal. This is highly competitive but you could do better with ING Direct for example at 2.79% (Base Rate + 2.29%).

The lender has also launched a two-year fix at 4.18% with a £995 fee up to 75% LTV available through all channels (broker, branch and telephone). However you can access a 3.78% rate on the same terms by going direct to branch or via the telephone. And if you have a 30% deposit you can get Abbey's market-leading two-year fix at 3.69% with a £799 fee.

Broker-only deals

Sister lender Alliance & Leicester, has launched two lifetime trackers exclusively for borrowers going through mortgage brokers.

The first is priced at Base Rate plus 2.39%, currently 2.89%, up to 70% LTV with a £495 fee.

The second lifetime tracker deal is fee-free and priced at Base Rate plus 2.49%, currently 2.99% up to 70% LTV. Attractive deals but both can be beaten or matched.

90% proof

Further evidence that the market is thawing is the addition of more deals at 90% LTV. RBS has just launched a new range of mortgages that borrowers can access through brokers, including a 90% LTV two-year tracker rate for purchasers at 4.79% (Base Rate + 4.29%), with a fee of £999.

The lender has also dropped its 90% LTV five-year fixed rate to 6.99% from 7.49% with a £999 arrangement fee.

Meanwhile Cheltenham & Gloucester has launched a 90% LTV two-year tracker for purchasers, priced at 5.99% (Base Rate + 5.49%) with a £995 product fee.

Coventry controversy

Coventry Building Society stirred up a brouhaha last week by announcing it has introduced measures allowing existing borrowers with an LTV up to 125% to move home.

The measures apply to existing customers who have a good credit history and need to move, for example to relocate for work, but have found that lower house prices have pushed them into negative equity.

The lender made clear that no additional borrowing will be allowed but some commentators have called this irresponsible lending and claimed that this is what got us into trouble in the first place.

But this is codswallop.

Coventry is looking after its members. The lender already holds the risk and a client in negative equity is not going to be able to remortgage elsewhere. So there is no extra risk to the lender or client in letting them move house. Furthermore, other lenders already do this -- they just don't shout about it. Both Nationwide and Halifax will take a view on refinancing existing clients that are in negative equity or have an LTV above their normal lending criteria.

New HSBC deals

Finally HSBC's new discounted rate specials deserve a look.

The first, available up to 60%, is priced at just 2.49% -- a stonking rate, and comes with a fee of £999.

Those who need to borrow up to 75% of the property's value see the rate rise to 2.99% (still low) but this deal comes without any arrangement fees, so it could be a really competitive option when worked out on true cost over two years.

Finally those who need to borrow up to 80% of the property's value also get the fee-free two-year discount but the rate rises to 3.59%. Still extremely attractive at this LTV bracket.

Top mortgage deals

Regardless of whether they are new or not, here are my favourite mortgages on offer across the spectrum, from fixes to trackers, for those with 10% deposit, to those with a chunky 40% upfront: 

10 great fixes

 And now for a dozen of the best variable rate deals:

12 brilliant variable rates

*Remortgage only.

**£595 fee for purchase customers only, remortgagors pay £995.

***First-time buyers only.

Use lovemoney.com's innovative new mortgage tool to find the best mortgage for you online

Get help from lovemoney.com

If you need help getting the best mortgage use our resources.

First, adopt this goal: Cut the cost of your mortgage and pay it off early

Next, watch this video: Getting through the mortgage maze

Then, why not have a wander over to Q&A and ask other lovemoney.com members for hints and tips about what worked best for them?

1st Time Buyers

Mortgages suitable for first time buyers with a maximum 15% deposit, sourced based on lowest payrate. Where a provider's logo is displayed products may be applied for directly.

Offset

Mortgages with an offset facility attached, sourced based on lowest payrate. Where a provider's logo is displayed products may be applied for directly.

At lovemoney.com, you can research all the best deals yourself using our online mortgage service, or speak directly to a whole-of-market, fee-free lovemoney.com broker. Call 0800 804 4045 or email mortgages@lovemoney.com for more help.

This article aims to give information, not advice. Always do your own research and/or seek out advice from an FSA-regulated broker (such as one of our brokers here at lovemoney.com), before acting on anything contained in this article. 

Finally, we tend to only give the initial rate of a deal in our articles, but any deal which lasts for a shorter period than your mortgage term will revert to the lender's standard variable rate when the deal ends. Before you take out a deal, you should always try to find out from your lender what its standard variable rate is and how it will be determined in the future. Make sure you take all this information into account when comparing different deals.

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