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Lending Report March 2008 | House Price Decline | Don't get bitten by the Credit Crunch

Lending Report March 2008

The increase in total net lending to individuals in March 2008 reached a low of £8.2 billion according to the Bank of England. This is below the £9.6 billion increase in February and the previous six month average of £9.4 billion.

The number of loans approved for house purchases in March reached a low of 64,000 with 98,000 re-mortgages and 57,000 for all other purchases. The Bank of England confirmed that these figures were all lower than in February and their previous six-month averages.

House Price Decline

Nationwide have confirmed that house prices across the nation are now falling for the first time in more than a decade.

The average price of a home in April dropped 1pc from a year earlier and 1.1pc compared with March. The prospect of property values falling below what they were worth this time last year raises fears that many homeowners may be pushed into negative equity – as the amount owed on their mortgage exceeds the price of their home. This weakness in the housing market will only add to pressure on the Bank of England to reduce interest rates from their current level of 5pc.

Don’t Get Bitten by the Credit Crunch

The housing market may be slowing down, but here are some useful tips to help ward off the Credit Crunch.

Wise words for credit handling

• Make sure you keep a good credit report; direct debit is a good way to guarantee this.
• If you have several payments with different dates you may want to consolidate all your debts into one easy payment. Reducing your number of credit cards to one could make you more appealing to a potential lender.

Careful checks to your credit report

• Make sure that your credit report is an accurate account of your financial situation and payment history. It is vital that this is precise as information will be passed on to potential lenders. This will need to include information on all credit accounts that you hold. If you discover that some of this information is incorrect you will need to have this rectified with the relevant company, as this could deter a lender from offering you a loan. Something as simple as making sure that you are registered to vote at your current address could really add valuable points to your credit score.

When shopping pays

• Make sure you spend some time shopping around for the most economical suppliers, due to high rising prices of utility bills this year. Whilst looking for the best possible deals, you may want to consider turning your thermostats down slightly, having showers rather than baths and making sure that you turn the power off on appliances as opposed to keeping them on standby. These are all helpful hints that will help minimise your Utility bills and also help reduce carbon emissions.

For more help and advice on beating the credit crunch why not pop into one of our branches in London, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the West Midlands.