Last year, we followed the financial fiasco that was the Northern Rock story.
It was in October that we told you about Northern Rock scrapping two thirds of its mortgages as the company struggled to stay afloat.
A lot of you have managed to secure a new deal with another mortgage lender, but those of you with Northern Rock mortgages, have probably been wondering what happens next.
Well, now it seems your mortgage will be transferred to Lloyds TSB.
Lloyds TSB has struck a 3 year deal to take on those of you with Northern Rock who are coming to the end of your fixed rate mortgage deals.
Selected numbers of you will be offered the chance to switch to a fixed-rate mortgage from Lloyds TSB's mortgage arm, C&G, without having to pay for conveyancing or a valuation. C&G's standard application fee of £99 will also be waived.
Among the mortgages on offer to you are a 5 year fixed-rate mortgage of 5.99% and a 3 year mortgage with a rate of 6.09%. Both have an arrangement fee of £995.
Lloyds TSB will pay a commission to Northern Rock for each customer who switches to it and Northern Rock said the deal should save jobs for 100 of its staff.
It's not clear just how many of you will be able to switch under the deal, but Lloyds TSB said it expects about
180,000 Northern Rock customers to come to the end of their
fixed rate mortgages in the next 3 years.
One drawback is that the offer is only available to those of you seeking to borrow less than 80% of the value of your property, so many of you may not qualify. However, it did say that it would be flexible.
These will include many of the 200,000 of you that were sold Northern Rock's controversial Together mortgage, which allowed you to borrow up to 125% loan to value.
Leigh Calder, a spokesman for Lloyds TSB, said the bank operated prudent lending criteria and did not want to dilute the quality of its mortgage book by taking on larger loans.
As well as requiring you to have at least 20% equity in your property, Lloyds TSB will also check to see if you have a good payment record and running the usual credit checks before contacting you or making a formal mortgage offer.
Calder also said that if you are a Northern Rock customer that hasn't been contacted could still apply for a
C&G mortgage and may be able to
borrow up to 95% if you went directly to the lender, or
up to 90% if you applied using an adviser. However, you would not get the benefits being offered borrowers with smaller loans.
If you don't want to take up the offer from Lloyds TSB, you can move to Northern Rock's standard variable rate (SVR) (currently 7.49%) or switch to another mortgage lender.
However you must bear in mind that Northern Rock's financial crisis has forced it to charge a higher than average rate for its SVR mortgages, partly as a way of encouraging you to redeem your home loans and move to another lender.
Northern Rock has decided to do this in order to
drastically reduce its mortgage book by 2011 as part of its turnaround efforts.
However the move has prompted concern its best customers will be taken on by other mortgage lenders and it will be left with the riskiest borrowers, just as housing repossessions are expected to rise.
In addition it has been revealed that home repossessions at Northern Rock are running at twice the rate registered before the bank was nationalised in February showing that it is taking a more aggressive stance on mortgage arrears since it was taken into public ownership.
Independent finance website
Moneyfacts commented on Northern Rock's move saying:
"The new mechanism to support customers transferring their mortgage to Lloyds TSB is a welcome move. It comes hard on the heels of the doubling in size of Northern Rock's debt management team to assist those who don't meet Lloyds TSB's criteria."
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