Alliance and Leicester slash fixed rate mortgages!
Alliance & Leicester has launced a new range of mortgage products, with fixed rate mortgages being reduced by up to 0.90% in a bid to generate some demand.
The new mortgage products will be available from Thursday 4 December 2008 and include:
Two Year Fixed Rate reduced to 4.94% from 5.79% · Fixed until 31 December 2010
· £599 product arrangement fee
· Customers can borrow up to 75% of the property value
· 10% overpayment facility
· Maximum loan £250,000
Two Year Fixed Rate reduced to 4.99% from 5.59% · Fixed until 31 December 2010
· 1% product arrangement fee · Customers can borrow up to 75% of the property value
· 10% overpayment facility
· Maximum loan £1 million
Two Year Fixed Rate FeeSaver reduced to 5.49% from 6.39% · Fixed until 31 December 2010
· No product fee
· Customers can borrow up to 75% of the property value
· 10% overpayment facility
· Maximum loan £1 million
· Free valuation1
· Remortgage customers get £200 cashback or free Mortgage Transfer Service
Visit A&L for more information
Insuranceblogger is pleased to see some movements in the large area of the market that is traditionally risk averse and consequently doesn't benefit when rates go south. Sure to generate some demand in a particularly quiet seasonal period!
Labels: Alliance and Leicester, credit crunch, mortgage
FSA fines Alliance and Leicester £7m for misselling Loan Protection
Alliance & Leicester has been hit with a record fine by the FSA of £7 million for serious failings in its telephone sales of Loan Payment Protection Insurance.
For three years from January 2005 to December 2007 A&L sold over 200000 Loan PPI policies to customers seeking a personal loan.
The FSA has said that there was a general failure by A&L advisers to give customers details of the true cost of their PPI. In addition A&L sought to find reasons to sell PPI without properly considering what customers needed.
A&L did not make it sufficiently clear that
Loan Payment Protection Insurance was optional and it trained its staff to pressurize customers where they queried the inclusion of PPI in their quotation or challenged independent financial advisers recommendations.
These failings resulted in unacceptable levels of non-compliant sales and a high risk of unsuitable sales over the three year period.
The FSA Director of Enforcement, said: “The failings at A&L are the most serious we have found. This is reflected in the record PPI fine. It is very disappointing that after three years of regulation we are still finding serious problems in PPI sales.
Firms cannot rely on paperwork sent out later as an excuse for unclear or misleading statements given on the telephone.”
Simon Burgess of British Insurance, one of the country's leading independent suppliers of PPI who has been campaigning against misselling for years said
"Although rather belated, we welcome the FSA's tough stance against anyone who mis-sells PPI."
Labels: Alliance and Leicester, fsa, loan payment protection insurance
