Let's face it, Abbey is a company that could be considered quite wealthy. Here are several reasons why:

• It's part of the Santander Group, which is the 7th largest bank in the world
• Santander has 69 million customers
• Abbey can afford to sponsor the McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team and sailing's America's Cup
• They have Lewis Hamilton advertising their products in TV adverts

So, with more than a few quid in the bank, you would expect Abbey to be bit more generous when it comes to lending money wouldn't you?

 

Sadly, it appears not.

This is because they have made it more expensive for some of you to take out a new mortgage. If you are planning to take up its 95% mortgage deal, you must now pay the arrangement fee of £2,499 up front, rather than just adding it to the sum of your mortgage.

This change by Abbey is just another example of a bank making its lending criteria much tougher due to the ongoing credit crunch. As a result of this, most mortgage lenders now require a minimum 10% deposit from you.

How will this affect you?

The move by Abbey will force those of you who are interested in this mortgage to save more money before taking it out.

Abbey said this wasn't the case and said that it would in practice, affect very few new borrowers. An Abbey spokeswoman said:

"Loan to value (LTV) ratios of above 90% are not our core market and account for less than 3% of the business we do."

Abbey has only one mortgage on offer for those of you who have just a 5% deposit and it is fixed for 5 years at 7.04%.

Rising costs all around

For most of you that haven't been hiding under a rock (or wasting your life watching Big Brother), you will have noticed in recent weeks that many mortgage lenders have been raising the cost of their mortgages for new borrowers.

This is due to the cost of borrowing the funds in the financial markets has been going up. The Halifax, Nationwide, Bradford & Bingley and Abbey itself, have been among the mortgage lenders who have been pushing up the cost of their new fixed-rate mortgages.

Earlier this week the Bank of England revealed that the average cost of a 2-year fixed rate mortgage to someone with a 25% deposit, had risen to an eight-year high in May. The average interest rate charged by the UK's banks and building societies for this type of mortgage was 6.27%, up from 6.06% in April.

So, while the credit crunch rolls on, you can see why mortgage lenders want to tighten their lending practices.

But let's be honest, with the vast amount of profit that they make, surely companies like Abbey can afford to be a bit more generous in their mortgage lending?

Do you think they could be doing more to encourage people to get a mortgage?

(Please note that articles on Money Hospital 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.)

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Here in the UK, we have a reputation for being intelligently humorous, polite, reserved and proud of our stiff upper-lip

You would think these traits would apply to the office; however this couldn't be farther from the truth.

This is because a recent survey shows that almost 60% of us admit to displaying bad manners towards our colleagues and committing verbal faux pas on a very regular basis.

So, if you want to stay on the right side of your co-workers, and avoid sounding and looking like a right chump, here are 10 things not to say at work.More...

If you've ever taken out a loan, mortgage, credit card or store card, or bought something on credit, then the chances are you were sold payment protection insurance (PPI) at the same time.

Now, the consumer association Which? believes that thousands, even millions of you, may have been mis-sold PPI.

The scale of the mis-selling of loan payment protection insurance is greater than previously thought, with up to 2 million policies sold to people who may never be able to make a claim, according to Which?

Which? say that up to 30% of you taking out insurance on a loan in the last 5 years may fall foul of exclusions that would prevent you claiming.

• What is PPI?

PPI is designed to cover your debt repayments if you can't work through illness or accident, or if you are made redundant.

 

Unfortunately it is often mis-sold, costing many of us thousands of pounds for expensive insurance we may never actually be able to claim on!

Which? has been speaking out about the mis-selling of PPI for many years, but now the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) are getting involved.

• Poor selling of PPI

The FSA has already designated the insurance a priority because of the potential risks to consumers, and has fined or censured a string of companies over poor selling practices.

 

The findings by Which? are revealed just days before what is expected to be a highly critical report from the Competition Commission on, which has been investigating the £5 billion a year industry and is likely to announce plans for a crackdown on the way the policies are sold. It could even call for them to be sold separately.

Which? surveyed people who had taken out a loan or mortgage during the past five years and found that 32% of those who signed up for the insurance may fall foul of one or more of the "significant exclusions" in the small print. That could amount to between 1.7 million and 2.1 million policies.

The research also found that the average loan is £6,050; 1 in 10 of us has borrowed £10,000 or more.

A Which? spokesman commented on their survey:

"People who are self-employed or on a fixed-term job contract, for example, often aren't covered by PPI. Nor are many people aged 65 and over, or people who might claim for absences relating to pre-existing medical conditions."

Doug Taylor, Which? personal finance campaigner, said:

"We've always known that people were being mis-sold [payment protection insurance], but we were still amazed to discover the scale of it. It appears that salespeople are chasing their commissions, while their bosses are chasing profits. Where's the sense of responsibility to the customer?".

He said if someone with a loan or mortgage thought they might have been mis-sold the insurance: "nows the time to fight back".

 

Many people may not be aware that policies only pay out for a limited amount of time, often 12 months, and that credit card and store card insurance frequently covers only the minimum monthly payment.

So, if you think you have been mis sold PPI, then you need to claim it back.

Claim back your Payment Protection Insurance

Claim back your bank penalty charges

Claim back your credit card fees

Claim back your mortgage exit fees

These days, finding a good mortgage might feel a bit like trying to track down the Loch Ness monster; rumours abound but can you actually find it?

As you know, there are many ways to get a mortgage. You can get it by post, phone, through the internet, by interactive TV; the list is endless.

But the reality comes down to this; to find a good mortgage, should you use a mortgage lender or should you use an impartial adviser?

That's a good question. So, here are some pros and cons to using both.

Going direct

A lot of you like to do your own homework, pick the mortgage you want and then go straight to a mortgage lender to get it.

Well, you could be paying more to take out a mortgage through a broker as increasing numbers of mortgage lenders do offer better rates to those of you going direct to their branches.

According to analyst Moneyfacts, of the top 20 2 year fixed-rate mortgages, (based on a loan of £150,000), the 13 best deals are only available directly from the lender. Three of the top 20 deals are available through an adviser.

Looking at the Moneyfacts table, the best 2 year fixed rate mortgage comes from Welsh building society Principality, at 5.99% with no fee. You can get it if you have a deposit of 25% or more.

For those with a 10% deposit, the Loughborough building society offers you a 5.75% rate for 2 years but you do have to pay a £649 fee to pay.

Darren Cook of Moneyfacts said:

'With continuing uncertainty in the mortgage market and the total number of products continuing to decline, many more people will be considering approaching a broker to find them the best mortgage deal. However, many brokers are finding that their choice of products to recommend to clients has been increasingly restricted as more lenders move to offer their most competitive products just for direct-only business.'

Last week First Direct welcomed back new mortgage customers after a brief stint away from the market. It is offering a cheaper 2 year fixed rate mortgage than the Principality at 5.76% for those of you with a deposit of 20%; however, the bank has started charging two fees to this mortgage which comes to around £2,000!

Exclusive deals

Mortgage lenders are also giving you exclusive deals if you take out another product with them; here are a few examples:

• Halifax's range of first-time buyer mortgages are available with a deposit of as little as 3%. Rates start at 6.39% but if you want a LTV greater than 90%, you will need to open or already hold a salary funded Halifax/Bank of Scotland current account.

• HSBC offers you enhanced rates if you have either its Plus or Premier current accounts. To qualify for a Premier account, you need to have a mortgage of at least £250,000 and a salary of over £70,000 or stock market investments with HSBC. HSBC's normal rate for its fixed-rate mortgages is 5.98%. As a Plus customer, you would get the loan at 5.88% and Premier customers at 5.78%.

• NatWest, meanwhile, has launched a savings account for first-time buyers that offer them a tax-free cashback bonus at the end of a year on condition that they take out a NatWest mortgage.

Using an adviser

Others of you prefer to use an impartial adviser or broker; this is because most of them can search all mortgage lenders, (including some you may never have heard of) to find the best deal for your situation.

David Hollingworth of fee-free mortgage broker London & Country says the lenders' practice of offering exclusive deals is 'muddying the waters' of the increasingly complicated mortgage market:

'It is a backward step when banks are cross-selling products to customers with their mortgage and that customer is buying without getting advice. In this uncertain environment advice is more important than ever.'

 

Melanie Bien of brokers SPF agrees:

'You will only be advised on the products that the lender has on offer by someone who is not a qualified financial adviser,' she says, adding that you will be very lucky if your lender can offer you products that are the most suitable for your needs.

 

Last week the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said when brokers recognised that there were more competitive products available direct from mortgage lenders they should tell you about them. But, he added, they could still charge you for such advice.

Mortgage adviser Mform has warned that if you are regarded as a high risk customer, then you might only be offered standard variable rate mortgages by your existing mortgage lender under new 'customer profiling' rules when your current mortgage runs out.

So, as you can see, there are both pros and cons to going direct to a mortgage lender or by using an impartial adviser.

But ultimately the decision is yours; happy mortgage hunting!

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The words debt and credit crunch are becoming more common these days; but just how widespread is the debt problem?

Pretty widespread by the sounds of it, especially when a leading debt advice charity says it is being overwhelmed by demands for help even in some of the richest parts of the country!

Transact, said demand for debt advice was rising across the country, but the increase was dramatic in middle-class areas. It said some advice centres were so busy they had been turning people away.

At the Mid-Sussex Debt Advice Centre, which serves the Haywards Heath area, the average debt of clients (excluding mortgages) is £20,000, rising to £110,000 in the most extreme cases.

Emma Russell, a debt adviser, said: "I've had at least two clients tell me that they would have killed themselves if they hadn't found out that we were here."

Transact says government funding has been generous, with an extra £55 million over the past three years to fund an extra 500 debt advisers. But it says this has been concentrated on inner-city areas where the rise in problem debt has been less severe.

Jamie Elliott, of Transact, said:

"In the past it was almost uniquely people on benefits, people in social housing, who went to debt advice agencies. Since the credit crunch started they are seeing a big increase in professional people and homeowners coming to seek help, who have just been pushed over the edge and now can't cope with their outgoings."

"These services now with the credit crunch are being overwhelmed by a whole new breed of debtor: middle-class people. But what that means is there is much less debt advice to go round."

Many of you seeking help from debt advisers have already used the credit in your homes to pay for home improvements but, as your fixed-rate mortgage came to an end and the cost of living having gone up, many of you have been finding it hard to meet your repayments, even if you earn a relatively good salary.

 

Transact said that it expects the problem to become worse, and has called for more funding to provide debt advice.

Debt advisers say banks and building societies must take some responsibility for encouraging debt and the government should do more to educate people about financial responsibility. But they also say a large part of the blame also rests with those of you who have borrowed so much.

If you are struggling with your finances then do not panic. You can seek advice and support from these organisations:

Consumer Credit Counselling Service

National Debtline

Citizen's Advice Bureau

Samaritans

You should also speak free of charge to a debt adviser who can provide you with advice and solutions to help you resolve your debt and credit problems.

Are you struggling with debt? Have you been pushed financially to the edge?

What will you do about it? Why not let us know in the comments?

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