The recent changes in the UK economy, and the current "Credit Crunch" scare has meant that many Mortgage lenders are tightening the criteria they use to assess mortgage application creditworthiness.

If your credit rating is poor borrowing money or engaging in any transaction with a financial institution including re-mortgaging could be difficult. But if your rating is good, there are still plenty of attractive offers.

(Get a Credit Report from Experian).

It was not long ago that the banks were desperate to lend money, 95% and 100% mortgages were fairly common only last year, - but in order to get a deal like that these day you will need some comprising photos of your bank manager and a penchant for blackmail, even if that works and they agree to it you can expect to be paying premium interest rates for the privilege!

If the above method of securing a mortgage does not sit well with you then you will need to find a 15% deposit. Most of the lenders current top deals are restricted to those borrowing 85% or less, of the value of their property, and if you're considering self certifying your mortgage you can expect to be paying premium interest rates.

But it is not all doom a gloom, there are still some deals out there, you just need to know where to look and what to look out for!

• The fixed rate mortgages

Some lenders are certainly offering good deals on fixed rate mortgages. Take Abbey for example, it has a current two year fixed rate mortgage running at 4.99%, but this for a loan to value of 60% or lower, this might be more applicable for those of you looking to remortgage. Alliance and Leicester are also offering fixed rate mortgage deals with headline rates of 4.99%, but again you will need a reasonable deposit to take advantage of this.

If you're looking for a new mortgage, why not use a mortgage adviser as they can help you find a good deal. Often they have relationships with lenders that mean you may be able to get a better deal that you could going direct. Also most advisers can search all mortgage lender, some you may never have heard of, to find the best deal for your situation - but do ask you adviser if they are independent at the start just to make sure!

If you like the look of the Abbey deal, make sure you read the small print as this deal comes with a whopping arrangement fee of £2,999, this might be worth it if you are borrowing a large sum - but make sure you factor it the arrangement fee to your overall budget. Compare this to HSBC's 2 year fixed rate of 5.84% for loans up to 90% LTV which comes an arrangement fee of only £499, as you can see the rate is not always everything!

• Tracker Mortgages

There are bigger tracker discounts on offer, but they come with a sting in the tail. Lloyds TSB for example offers 4.79% - the base rate minus 0.46% until July 2010. A great rate, but the arrangement fee is 2.5% of the loan, so £2,500 per £100,000 borrowed!

• Variable mortgage rates

Variable mortgage rates of course reflect the current Bank of England base rate of 5.25%. Co-op is offering 5.59% (base rate minus 0.01%) for two years with a £599 fee. At least another 0.25% is expected to come off base rate in the next couple of months, so if you sign up to a £100,000 tracker deal now you can be pretty confident about a reduction in your monthly repayments of at least £30 per month (on a capital-and-interest basis) over the rest of 2008.

The mortgage industry regulator the FSA has warned that many people who have mortgages up for renewal in 2008 face steep increases in repayments. If you're among them, get planning now.

• Rising repayments? Start planning now

If your mortgage comes up for re-negotiation soon, i.e. you come out of the penalty period , it really is worth calling your lender to find out the interest rate you will be moving to. For Example if you entered a two year fixed rate deal in 2006 it is likely you will be paying around 4.5%. On a £100,000 mortgage, that would mean if you moved to you banks standard rate of around &5, you could expect an increase from around £550 to £710 per month.

Provided your mortgage is under 85% of the value of your home, you could be eligible to find a deal for nearer the 5.5%, making your monthly payment closer to £610 per month -quite a saving! Contact a mortgage broker to discuss what offers you might be eligible for.

The long and short of it is, there are some good deals out there, but gone are the days of "most mortgage deal are good, but some are great" we now all need to be a little more pragmatic in our thinking, there are good deal out there, but assume the worse and do your home work.

Please note that articles on MoneyHospital do not constitute regulated financial advice. The articles are intended to provide general personal financial information. We urge you to consult an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) before making any important decisions about your finances. All rates are correct at time of printing but are subject to change without notice.