The product is fixed until 30 September 2010 with a maximum LTV of 95 per cent. It comes with a £499 acceptance fee and no higher lending charge up to 90 per cent.
The product also includes the facility to make part repayments of up to 5 per cent of the loan amount borrowed without incurring an early repayment charge for each full 12-month period from the completion of the loan period until 30 September 2010. The early redemption charge is 5 per cent of the balance on which interest is charged until the same date.
Paul Howard, director of intermediary sales at the Portman, said: “With no Bank of England Base Rate move once again during July, mortgage lenders have continued to whittle down their mortgage rates, particularly in the fixed rate market.
We have cut the rate on this product in order to maintain our competitive position and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to providing attractive products to intermediaries.”
Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at Alliance & Leicester (A&L), said the Portman product was another good example of the competitive fixed rates on offer in the market at the moment. “At A&L our fixed rates, and in particular our five-year fixed rates, have been proving extremely popular.
“It’s easy to see why – the differential between two-year and five-year fixed rates has closed significantly and in some instances they are now cheaper than variable rates.
“With fixes priced so aggressively many are taking advantage of low rates and opting to go for longer-term budgetary certainty and fixing for five years,” Yousefi said.
