The top 20 mortgage deals

Christina Jordan rounds the top 20 mortgage deals available on the market - whatever your deposit!

The Base Rate was unsurprisingly maintained at 0.5% last week by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

But following weeks of mortgage rates being at a virtually standstill, there has been a flurry of activity in October from lenders. And it's been very welcome activity since they've been cutting rates left, right and centre in a bid to attract business.

Why now?

Well, swap rates have reduced significantly over the past few weeks and the London-Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is down to almost the same as Base at 0.55%. Both of these measures impact on lender's funding costs.

But perhaps they also have an eye on their year-end targets -- after all, any applications that are going to stand a chance of completing before the end of December need to be applied for now. Equally, first-time buyers might be in a rush since the Stamp Duty tax-free threshold is due to decrease from £175,000 to £125,000 at the end of the year. Lenders could be anticipating increased demand this month, and making sure they get their slice of the pie.

Whatever the reason, falling mortgage rates are not to be sniffed at.

Who has done what?

• Abbey has tweaked some of its fixed rates by up to 0.11% and has launched a new range of fee-free mortgages for first-time buyers.
• C&G has cut its broker-only five-year fixed rate by 0.20% to 5.99%
• Nationwide has chopped the rates on some of its tracker rates by up to 0.36%, and on some fixed rates by a substantial 0.70%
• Northern Rock, C&G, Principality Building Society and Coventry have also been chopping mortgage rates
• And Woolwich has reduced its lifetime tracker rate by 0.45% to an attractive 2.79%.

Are the new deals any good?

Some lenders have made chunky reductions while others have tinkered at the edges on a limited number of products.

The most notable reduction is Woolwich cutting its lifetime tracker to 2.79%, an amazing rate available up 70% of a property's value.

If you have a larger deposit you can do even better on rate with HSBC's 2.74% lifetime tracker up to 60% LTV. Or if you only have 25% upfront the lender offers a lifetime tracker rate of 2.95%.

The best thing about lifetime trackers is that they are often penalty free, meaning if you want to switch to another mortgage you can do without incurring early repayment charges (though Woolwich has penalties for two years on its lifetime tracker).

Low LTV lending

The best deals are still available only to those with a large deposit or equity, but one encouraging sign is that Abbey, Woolwich and Nationwide are now offering their best rates at 70% LTV, not 60% LTV. It's a step in the right direction, although of course, this week's rate cuts do nothing to help those who can only muster 10%.

Indeed, the first-time buyer market has been dealt a mixed bag in October, with HSBC saying it will lend a further £500m at 90% LTV, while Britannia has withdrawn its 90% LTV range. All in all, times are still tough for those with just 10% upfront.

Fix it?

Fixed rates have reduced in the last month and there are some decent deals around. But they still look expensive compared to variable rate deals. However, if you cannot afford a rise in your monthly repayments but you can afford a current fixed rate, they are a completely safe bet.

Two-year deals have come down considerably and Northern Rock's 3.75% deal with a £595 fee is a good all-rounder in terms of fee and rate. But you need a 30% deposit to get it -- and there's the rub.

The smaller your deposit the more you will pay. If you are borrowing 90% of the property's value you are looking at around 6% -- a huge premium. Frankly you might want to consider a variable rate with no ties-ins.

Stick or twist?

If you are about to come to the end of a deal you have the choice of reverting onto your lender's SVR and this could well be the cheapest option. Many lenders' SVRs are currently extremely low - C&G's is just 2.5% -- and beat the best buys, especially for those without a large amount of equity and particularly when you take into account switching costs.

Little wonder then that the Council of Mortgage Lenders' figures released this week say that remortgaging has decrease by 57% in the last year. Many borrowers don't need to bother switching when the default option is fine and dandy. Of course, just be aware that SVRs will increase when the Base Rate rises -- and there is no cap.

If you do want a new mortgage my favourites are below:

Top 10 variable rates

*FTB only

Top 10 fixes

*Purchase only

**FTB only

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