The lender has reduced selected product rates and increased its maximum loan to value (LTV) on its headline products to 80 per cent.
In the together mortgage range with a product fee, a rate of 5.99 per cent is now available as standard. Customers can opt for a variable rate or fixing the rate for two, three, five or seven years. The together range combines a secured loan with an unsecured loan, both at the same rate and with one monthly payment.
With the withdrawal of 75 per cent and 85 per cent LTV tiers for flexible fixed rate and flexible tracker mortgages and the introduction of an 80 per cent tier, customers now have to find a deposit of only 20 per cent rather than a 25 per cent to secure Northern Rock’s lowest rates. Reductions ranging from 0.10 per cent to 0.30 per cent have also been applied to the 90 per cent LTV and 95 per cent LTV tiers of some of these products.
Northern Rock also offers a help with costs option, currently £700, to customers on completion of their mortgage. This can be used to meet mortgage costs such as legal, valuation or product fees. The benefit has to be repaid if customers redeem their loan early. In the case of remortgage customers, the period in which the benefit must be repaid has, for a limited period only, been reduced from two years to one-and-a-half years.
Allison Thompson, marketing director at Northern Rock, said: “These improvements represent great news as even more customers will be able to benefit from our headline rates. We currently offers some fantastic products such as our two-year flexible fixed rate at 4.89 per cent and our together range, offering a combination of secured and unsecured lending up to 125 per cent of the property value, with rates now from a standardised 5.99 per cent.
“Our product range continues to offer a number of valuable benefits as standard including:
• a fee saver option - available on all products - whereby customers can choose to pay a slightly higher rate of interest in exchange for not paying a product fee
• £700 help with costs option - available on all products (except lifetime mortgages)
• no higher lending charge on any Northern Rock mortgage product
• no extended early repayment charges
• full flexibility as standard, with daily interest calculation and enabling the customer to make unlimited penalty free overpayments, underpayments, borrow back overpayments at their product rate and have the option to take payment holidays, even if they have not previously overpaid.
“In addition, all our mortgage products are available to our existing customers. Subject to any conditions attached to their existing mortgage, Northern Rock customers can switch to any one of our latest deals. We believe that all these features continue to offer a very attractive overall product proposition and are in keeping with our commitment to openness, transparency, and fair treatment of customers.”
