Hi Icebrick, The proceeds from a life plan, unless written in trust, would form part of your estate on death and any creditors would probably be able to make a claim on them. If a plan were to be written in trust it is moved outside of your estate and from day one of the trust you are no longer the ...

Great news for borrowers - it will be interesting to see how long they will be able to manage to match the demand before having to pull the plug.

It is possible that you can get a mortgage while in an IVA. Any lender would want to see that the IVA has been conducted satisfactorily to date and would consider each case individually. With the situation as it is - it would probably a slow process. It always helps to have a copy of your credit rep...

Lenders have always given better rates to people with more equity in their houses ie under 75% loan to value (LTV). With the credit crunch, if you have a mortgage up for renewal you have to act very quickly as rates are still being pulled with little or no notice.

It is possible to transfer the pension, but it up to the discretion of the trustees of the recieving scheme and if the scheme allows it. You also have to compare your existing scheme to the one you want to transfer to. It may be that the new scheme doesn't provide as good benefits or is more expensi...

If you are in the scheme for more than two years the scheme will make the benefits 'paid up'. Basically this means that you will have a benefit statement showing the pension you will get at retirement based on the years of service at the date of leaving their employ. Even if this happens, the benefi...

Hi, Do you know if it is the final salary scheme or money purchase scheme they are offering? The Railway pension can be either a final salary scheme or a money purchase scheme. It is up to the discretion of the individual company you work for. If you have access to a final salary scheme then you sho...

Halifax has introduced a new Loan to Value banding system which will see borrowers with less than 25 per cent deposit charged 0.14 per cent more. The lender will be introducing, from Monday, three LTV bands replacing its current two groupings. The first band will be for LTVs of 0 to 75 per cent, the...

On top of First Direct, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland and Kent Reliance Building Society became the first lenders this year to raise their variable mortgage rates for existing customers.

When the mortgage comes to the end of the fixed rate period, Andrew is quite right, whether there is payment history of financial difficulty or not, the first call should be to check out the mortgages available from your current lender. If your mortgage is a standard mortgage (ie before any payment ...

It was good to meet you all and you made me feel welcome. I still deny that i look like my mum (guess i'll have to shave off my beard)!! Emmat said it was noisy at the hotel. We stayed at the hotel and the people above us were throwing things out of their window to smash on our balcony at 4am. Still...

Hi, I am an independant mortgage and financial adviser and this is my first post, so here goes!! The valuer who carried out the survey has said that he considers the house to be worth £290k yet would recommend putting on the market for £310? What estimated value did you put on the mortgage applicati...