Negative Equity? Well yes, of course!

At last things are getting through to the media - it must be 15 months since we said the crash of '89 was here again, and now the Daily Mail have picked up on it, and BBC Tv & Radio News too

Vince Cable was spot on all those months ago, and he is again today - The IMF International Monetary Fund says there is a 25% chance of a world recession - pah! Get real you people, it is here, up on us, right now

So Co-operative Bank has joined First Direct in closing doors to new customers and others have followed suit - silly really because it should be a restriction on re-mortgages if they want to trade out of the situation, maybe we should tell Darlin Gofor Gordon what he is missing, the fool

Credit Crunch - UBS Rights Issue

Greed is what caused me, and so many others to lose so much money and or equity back in the Crash of '89 and now it is greed by the institutions

Blinded by the cash prompted buying the bundles of sub prime mortgages from the US or UK by investment managers brokers and deal makers

Folly is what burst their bubble - did they not stop to think it might not go on forever?

Did they actually think it would continue?

As someone interviewed on TV last evening said, anyone who thinks it does not effect them is wrong, right up from the lowest of us through to the millionaires will be effected - its just that more of 'us' rather than 'them' can afford to be as adversely effected as we will be

Mortgage Interest Rate Rises

Traditionally UK mortgage rates have been 1.5% to 2% over bank base rate - especially in the days of Building Society monopoly

Around Christmas this year we saw the differential between the two expand as the Bank of England fought inflation and mortgage lenders strove to accumulate cash reserves

This is continuing and we can see the gap widen ever further, don't be surprised if it doesn't even hit 3% over BBR

Mortgage Queues - Remortgages unlikely

At last the media are reporting what we have known for quite some time - Banks are not lending what little cash surplus they do have, to other bank

Spare cash is kept in house for balance sheet or future lending - LIBOR is now 6% or more and BBR Bank Base Rate is likely to fall

Last night it was publicly acknowledged the days of bundling loans and off loading them to then be able to re lend the money are well and truly over - Banks and Building Societies will for the foreseeable future be lending only their own money, or rather, your money coming in over the counter and what profits they can make

The whole economy, Bank of England Chancellor of the Exchequer, Treasury and Government will want, along with house builders and builders merchants and estate agents and conveyancing solicitors want to keep the housing market moving so remortgages will dry up, all money being used for purchases

Heathrow Terminal 5 BAA British Airways

It defies belief, doesn't it?

All those protests, all that money and all that persuasion and now, just like Wembley Stadium and the FA they can't organise famine relief in a soup kitchen

Just like British Rail or Network Rail none of the bosses responsible will even lose their bonus, let alone their job - in fact we bet they will be rewarded for having made us Brits the world laughing stock, again!

Nationwide Building Society House Price Index

Nationwide has today released its latest figures on the average house price indices

Guess what, prices have gone down, again! Well we all knew that and that it was going to happen - this is the fifth consecutive month the average house price has gone down but the 'experts' reckon the house value is actually up on last year - pah!

Compared to one year ago, house prices remain 1% higher, year on year that is, wow!

The slowed market is, it is claimed, reflective of the higher cost of borrowing, higher interest rates and a severe slowing of earnings growth - fear of redundancy is not yet quoted but we do recommend someone looking to protect themselves and sickness insurance also

Mortgage Rates remain higher

CML The Council of Mortgage Lenders state the obvious - mortgage rates will remain high, or higher for the foreseeable future - blimey, had their crystal ball clouded over?

Quite why these bodies either can't see these things sooner, or hide them amazes us - unless of course the 'non interfering' government tell them what to notice, that is

When Gordon Brown handed over base rate control to Bank of England all those years ago I for one did say to clients, do they really think we believe the Chancellor (Brown) will not telephone the MPC Monetary Policy Committee telling them what he wants and when?

USA revives itself

Interest rate cut of .75% seems to have revived the US market, how long for we don't yet know but Goldman Sachs have joined the bonus cutters

McCartney Woman devoid of reality - and that is news?

So the judge saw through her - is she really that stupid to think the judiciary live in her fantasy world?

That she got more than a house and an allowance to live on, £35,000 maybe plus maintenance for the child is injustice itself anyway - button it woman, disappear from the media, please, media, please ignore her, we are all now thoroughly fed up with her

McCartney - Heather loses again

Self promoting Heather McCartney has, apparently just been refused her appeal that details of the divorce are not published - and leave to appeal has been refused

Bravo, because now we can read what the judge heard and decided up on and hopefully not hear from her (that McCartney woman) again

It would also be nice not to hear from him either, as Yoko said, spoon rhyming with moon is hardly a song smith is it?

Macca, how can you get wound to ryme with pound - as in bank account wounded by loss of pounds?

Debts cancelled - they say it is true

Apparently it is quite possible to write off debts, even if you have been paying them, even if the loan is or had fallen in to arrears

Contract Law and promisory notes are being challenged and supposed 'lenders' asked to prove thier debt, in law

Rumnour has it that many of them just cannot prove thier debt, or rather legally prove the debt and so it becomes written off!

US Interest Rates

Today the Fed is expected to lower US bank rate a further 1% making US base rate only 2.25%

However, it is argued that a period of zero% - 0% to you and me, is needed - watch this space!

Fixed Rate Mortgages

Please log in to MyCbi RSS to recevie regular up dates of what mortgage changes are about

Avoid difficulties when coming to remortgage for better rates or new fixed ratess - all lenders are daily monitoring their offers and products are being withdrawn with little or short notice

Currently there are 789 different mortgages quoted on sourcing systems for a re-mortgage of 85% on a property valuae of £175,000 where this time last year there may well have been three times as many, if not more

The new mortgage of £148,750 on an interst only basis would cost anywhere between £581.36 per month and £1,188.76 per month - ( base rates being 5.49% or 8.24% ) 4.69% pay rate for a 3 year stepped discount ranging to £1,188.76 per month on a 2 year fix at 9.29% pay rate

So, good clean credit profile with a low income multiple, say 2.75 times salary could be £670.40 per month better off than the home owner that has suffered less than brilliant credit profile, even as apparently harmless as missed or late payments, especially if they were in the last few months and CCJ's or Defaults will obviously seriuosly effect a replacement mortgage at 9.59% costing £1,188.76 per month

Warning - Savers beware

The FSA protection for savers, as increased by Alistair Darling in the wake of Northern Rock relates only to one banking licence

HSBC for example also owns First Direct so £35,000 between the two is okay, safe, guaranteed but if you have £35,000 in each bank then compensation and guarantee is limited to £35,000 since, it is reported, HSBC has only one banking licence

So, split savings between unrelated banks - in the above situation put £35,000 in to say Barclays, or Co-op or another totally unrelated bank

Stock Market Crashes

Reported 10% of UK Bank Shares amid allegations of liquidity - suggested HBOS and RBS Nat West liquidity challenged
Stock Market lowest for 2 years

Shares Crash

London Stock Market Exchange crashed 2% in the first 7 minutes of trade this morning and more is expected
Okay so everyone keeps blaming the US sub prime mortgage market and that does seem to be the reason, but where and when this contagion is going to end who knows?

Fit Note - Sick Note

Fit Note? Now this is an idea that will most likely stir the Trade Unions if ever there was one!
Instead of making the Health Service and DWP or DSS more efficient, instead of sacking a few managers, or making a few managers actually work or produce something this government now want Doctors and your GP to sign patients fit!
So, this will no doubt hit the skivers and malingerers but how will it effect the very income replacement insurance the government want us all to provide for ourselves
Find out just how economically you can insure your wages by visiting The Sick Pay Club or its pages within our site, MyCbi, and how to get the most out of your Sick Note

Bear Stearns & JP Morgan - Northern Rock

So the Lesley Neilsen finally hits the fan - JP Morgan have bought Bear Stearns just as some argue Lloyds TSB should have been allowed to do with Northern Rock

Just how far this contagion will go remains to be seen, USA in recession is advised the best way out is to spend thier way out of it - UK won't be able to do that, UK Plc as Gordon Ed Balls Up Brown liked to call us don't have any money to spend, nor reserves because he sold all the gold! At least he got a poor price for it!
Who would have thought CMD Call Me Dave got it right - you know, his words to the Prime Minister that in the good times he put nothing aside, and they try to encourage we the public to save, save for a rainy day!

Inside TRack Property Club BTL Property Crash

Some members of Singing Pig may be pleased to hear someone is taking an interest in the so called property investors club Inside Track though alas it is probably too late for too many
MyCbi has always shied away from such schemes, and a fee of £2,500 or more to learn what is already out there in the public domain or can be explained by any mortgage broker worth their salt must surely add insult to injury
Mail on Sunday Financial Mail head an article Landlords' Lament though at this stage it seems more a story than an investigation, maybe they are waiting for the rush to begin, rather than be seen to start the rush of negative reporting?
And Channel 4 - where are they going to sit on this one, will Dispatches ever take up the issues or will programme sponsorship override journalistic integrity?

Bear Stearns bail out

American finance crisis deepens, even more so - Bear Stearns, supposedly a reputable giant amongst banks has been at least temporarily bailed out by the Federal Reserve via JP Morgan

More about all this later, we think

Shannon Matthews - Critical Daily Mail asks why 24 days

Okay so Daily Mail needs stories but surely they should be rejoicing the girl is found, not criticising the police - at least they have found her and really, didn't they do all they could?

Carlyle Capital Corp Credit Crunch Casualty - 6 C's

Bang, what a crash that one!
Supposedely safe fund sank by sub-prime, allegedly - just how much further is this going, along with its contagion the US sub-prime housing boom and bust has such far reaching effects
It is said that most or all of the CCC fund or investment was actually in prime mortgages as opposed to sub prime adverse mortgages
Apparently Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan were the one to pull the plug, watch this space, please
Anyhow, gold has shot up in price and banks still don't seem to be lending to each other despite cash being made available both in EU and USA

Sport Relief - Again

At the risk of being called uncharitable, which we are not, nor am I don't you just get fed up with it being pushed and promoted all the while?
We do actually give to charity, Rainbows Children's Hospice in Loughborough and Marie Curie of course, though we are looking to widen our range so worthy suggestions are invited
BBC TV seems full of it, from 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm and again from 10.45 pm to 2.30 am on BBC1 and no doubt the Radio will have its bashing also - yes it is all for a good cause, if the 'celebs' are not charging (Terry £8,000 wasn't it, last year?) but to lose the only other decent channel for the whole evening. Oh well!

Shannon Matthews found apparently safe

Shannon Matthews found, apparently safe - brilliant and thank you Lord

Maybe we can all learn something from this? Society isn't what it was, but even 50 or 60 years ago parents warned children and worried about them, it just seems modern technology, especially in the media, brings things like this to our national attention

There were very few telephones let alone televisions before the Coronation, lets not forget

$400 Billion Dollars American Sub Prime Mortgage Market

So the total so far of dodgy loans, sub prime, made in the USA comes to an admitted 400 billion dollars - think about it, one hell of a lot of money, but then again not so much since its only 2% of the UK Stock Exchange value
But, this $400 BILLION dollars was, to a large part, in the main, borrowed!
How can they? Call themselves whizz kids, whizz pops (is more appropriate, as in whizz pop fart) the tossers, borrowing all that, or so much money, just to buy dodgy investments!
Tossers! If the investments were any good, would they be on the market? Of course not!
And the stupid Americans wonder why they are hated so vehemently - pah! Their naive stupidity defies reasonableness and now the idiots are taking the rest of the world economy down with them!
Rock on Obama, save us, please, all of us?

Eror Gordon - Bigger Ed Balls up by you

It appears my calculator has lost a digit, or two!
400 Tons of gold (it is said it was actually 451 tones) should, we think, be valued at (that is 'worth' to you Gordon) a tidy little $14 billion - 0r has said calculator made another Ed's Up
Watch out for Ian Hislop and Private Eye, unless they already do use the term, Ed's Up Gordon

Gordons (Ed) Balls Up - Gold

Well done Mr Do Nothing so as to get nothing wrong - you really did make and Ed's of this time!
Gordon you fool, have you seen the price of gold this evening? Hit a world record high it has, over $1,000 US Dollars per ounce - and you sold tons of the stuff, 400 of them allegedly, like that is 896,000 pounds Gordon
In ounces Gordon, your 400 tons is, according to my calculator, 14,336,000 - ounces, unless the calculator couldn't cope!
And just how much for Gordon?
You blithering Prestbeteryn idiot - Tony knew you were (are) as stupid as him, that's why he got out when he did, you got in when you did, so do the sensible thing, call an elcetion and resign, or better still, resign and let Vince Cable organise the election, okay?
Well, everyone whinged when you sold, and you tried to keep it all quiet, well you would, wouldn't you Gordon, that gold today would have grossed some $1,433,600,000 - isn't that $1.4billion Gordon?

Mis-sold PPI Claims and replacement cover

It is important to put replacement policy cover in place before reclaiming Mis-sold PPI and The Sick Pay Club offers its members free claims advice and knowledge as to how best get valuable economical protection and maximise members reclaims for mis-selling

There are very important points to bring in to a claim for missold Payment Protection or ASU Insurance and these items really ought to be made clear in the claim because settlement could negate any future claim on health grounds

Contact The Sick Pay Club now, make application that will cost you nothing except a little bit of time to establish your continued good health, the economy of contribution and any increases incurred because of increased age before claiming mis-sold PPI - this will also establish exclusions that may not have been present at the time of original PPI that may have been sold wrongly and, if so, you may be able to claim further compensation or enusre you suffer no future loss because of the wrong or ill informed advice

Full Pay Sick Pay way above SSP or PPI

The Sick Pay Club provides economical cover for your wages when off work sick paying up to 65% of gross salary so that in effect you still have your full wages

If your employer pays you nothing, The Sick Pay Club will pay out after only one day sick or accident suffering

If you receive full or half wages from your employer for the first week or first 4 or 8 or even 13 weeks The Sick Pay Club can take up the slack from that point forward, until you are back to work or retire - and it doesn't need to be expensive

Houseprice crash

Estate Agents are reported to have more properties on thier books now than at any times since records began in 1978

Last year we predicted a repeat of the crash of 89 though even as late as June colleagues tried to deny it would ever happen though once the Northern Rock fiasco sufaced some, but not all, did change thier tune

We recently heard of a property having been advertised for £335,000, reduced to £325,000 receiving a bid of £240,000 which is, or was being considered! How house prices fall!

The guy who made the bid reckoned he would get the property for £250,000!

Budget Darling

So 4p on a pint of beer eh! Just like the garages, they'll be pubs that put it on straight away, like petrol prices increase straight away even though the stock was bought pre budget! Pah!

Bank Rate Unchanged

Bank of England Base Rate unchanged - now there is a surprise! BBR at 5.25% isn't bad anyway but yes, rates will fall - but again, mortgages will not necessarily follow

Spare cash - £138 Per Week

So now we are told that the miserly £143 net spendable income has gone down by £5 compared to last year!

MP's and Economists expect the average family to manage to enjoy life on this miniscule amount for £138 after all the bills are paid! Could they? Do they even think about what this means?

Just how much does it cost for Mum Dad and 2 kids to buy cinema tickets? Say it was £20.00 - Then how much might be spent 'at the Kiosk' Another £10.00 and the petrol and parking, or bus fares take another say £8.00 which leaves £100.00 for the rest of the week

Mum and Dad deserve a night out, only to the pub, its all they can afford, 4 pints for him sees offs £10.00 and 4 drinks for Mum is the same again - but the baby sitter costs £10.00 if one is lucky so that leaves £70.00 for 6 days!

Get a life MP's and do something less greedy, please?

First Time Buyers

First Time Buyers are still delaying making thier first house purchase - question is, how long before we know that the busrt bubble and reached the bottom of the fall in house prices?

Sharp drop in consumer confidence Nationwide

Nationwide Chief Economist suggests that up to one third of people in the UK feel economic conditions are bad - this is an increase fro 25% of people interviewed only last month

Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index found people were also unchanged about thier unchanged gloomy feelings about job prospects

Food and fuel costs figure large in this feeling of despondency

Mis-sold PPI Claims cancel cover

Beware that whilst claiming for mis-sold PPI is right and proper it is important not to leave oneself exposed to no cover - even though the PPI cover was questionable, at least there is/was some income protection

The Sick Pay Club replaces the policies for a fraction of the cost, with a policy that will pay out if claimed on, and pay out until retiremnet or return to work, not for the 12 or 18 months of some of these PPI policies

£1,200 per month sick pay can be paid after only one days illness and can cost around £13 per week, less if one is younger, more if one is older - but it will pay out, promise!

Contact The Sick Pay Club at www.MyCbi.co.uk now and have it both ways!

Mothers Sick Pay

Recognising mothers, or housepersons or househusbands all contribute The Sick Pay Club offers cover for full time housewives or houseperspons when they have illness or suffer an accident and are unable to work or do the housework

If you or your partner run the home full time and wish to be covered if sick or have an accident then enquire at info@mycbi.co.uk for full info and detail about the very reasonable contributions to The Sick Pay Club

Mothers Day - The cost of mums work at home

Current value on full time mums is now estimated at £26,000 per year - so lets all value mother!

The life assurance industry has always ran these sorts of surveys and figures - how much would it actually cost to get someone in to do all a mother at home does for the family, if you had to pay someone today it would cost £26,192 per year

Imagine if she is a working mum too!

So, contact us at info@myCbi.co.uk and let us discuss the ways open to you to cover the monetary side of things

Cheltenahm and Gloucester Reducing LTV

Lloyds TSB lender C&G Cheltenham and Gloucester have joined the rush to reduce the amount of loan offerred on a property
Gone are thier 95% loans and the maximum LTV loan to value ratio they'll advance now is 90% but suspect to further reduction

Debt Forum

If you have debts you can't seem to handle, please share them here, confidentially of course - if you want a one to one opinion please mail us at info@mycbi.co.uk and get unbiased advice as to the best thing for you

Beware, Insolvency Practitioners, or IP's as they are known, do have a hefty fee interest in your debts and IVA's are not always the right answer - IVA's leave you with as much money as bankruptcy, live on nothing in effect! No school trips for the children, no Valentines Dinners or expensive Mothering Sunday or Mothers Day Gifts because theres no money left!

Debt Management by informal arrangement is usually far better MyCbi My Clients Best Interest

Commercial Mortgages and Business Banking

Bravo America & Bravo Greed

The USA sub-prime fiasco continues to hit us all, private domestic and business - the banks do have money, well some anyway, but they are hanging on to it, they have to in some cases, just to keep their accounts in order, balance sheets and all that hence the credit crunch

But the greed did rather blinker some institutions too - buying up these mortgages has forced the funds and institutions to look at their exposure and so tighten their belts (and so ours) and put more aside than they might have done before

So, loan to value ratios are tightened and security requirements increased, but we at MyCbi do still have some back doors open for better banking facilities, please mail us at info@mycbi.co.uk or telephone 01162 912 478 for informal discussion about routes and solutions open to you

PPI - ASU - Who pays the bills?

Payment Protection or Accident Sickness Unemployment Insurance all sound great, say they will pay the bills if you are unable to work - though it is usually stipulated 'through no fault of your own' - what a get out clause that can be!

And, according to the FSA estimates as many as 2 out of 3 such policies have been mis-sold

Martin Lewis the moneysavingexpert advocates everyone claims back their premiums, with interest and perhaps even damages - well yes, but surely one should have something else in place first, before these policies are canceled, yes?

The Sick Pay Club covers people for their wages in they are off work through an accident or through illness - and keeps paying those wages right through to retirement or age 65 years

Unemployment cover is not included and perhaps quite rightly so too!

Insurers, being insurers usually have the right to say to policy holders, get a job, stack shelves, do agency work or similar - and after a few months they really do monitor claimants that they properly look for work or they stop paying the cover, and anyway, it was only going to pay out for a year anyway (or thereabouts) so redundancy cover as it is sometimes called isn't worth a lot if one is sacked, is it

However, reliable cover to pay wages is important and the PPI policies again only pay out for a year or so - far better to join a club that looks after its members, surely?

Find out more from info@mycbi.co.uk or telephone 01162 912 478

Sick Pay Club

Everyone advocates claiming back premiums and interest on mis-sold ppi policies and quite rightly too - but what happens then?

The Sick Pay Club is an old fashioned remedy to a very modern problem - no work, no pay!
If you cannot work The Sick Pay Club will pay up to 65% of your wages even after only 1 day sick leave, or you can choose to have less of your pay covered, but not more and you also have the choice to delay payment of your sick pay until you have been off work for either 1 week or 1 month or longer if you wish - obviosly, the longer you wait before drawing sick pay, the lower the contributions you are asked to pay

Find out more at www.MyCbi.co.uk or e-mail info@mycbi.co.uk or telephone 01162 912 478

Cancel your mortgage

Some mortgages are illegal and can be cancelled even though you keep your home, for free!
There are moves afoot to challenge some mortgages and have them wiped out altogether and so leave the homeowner just that, a homeowner with no mortgage
Contact us now at MyCbi to find out more about this - email info@mycbi.co.uk or telephone 01162 912 478

House Price Rise

Land Registry says that house prices actually rose in January of this year - however, this information might be based on sales prices of up to three months ago - we will investigate and report back

Northern Rock

Nationalisation looms ever closer - but at least that secures the taxpayers money already lent

Some commentators are very negative about nationalisation saying it will cost taxpayers £57 billions but no, we don't agree

Why? Well the money is already 'lent' and unless there is or were a full priced complete buy out that money is still at risk, at least nationalisation means we know where it is, who it is controlled by so, as much as we regret it, this does seem the best course of action, now that such a pigs ear has been made of the whole debacle -

Housing Market Confusion

Confusion abounds - one report on radio today claimed prices increased in December and it was enough to wipe out the reversals reported earlier in the year

As the introduction to that wonderful American soap opera, Soap, said, Confused? You will be after this episode of SAOP

Speaking with a usually busy estate agent yesterday the flatness of the market was again confirmed by them - very quiet, they said!

Funding & Mortgage Famine

Happy New Year to all readers, lenders and borrowers

It appears our worst predictions are coming true, today the Bank of England said banks and building societies in the last quarter of 2007 lent far less than had been the case, not just to private homeowners in mortgages but far less to business also

Sorry but it is a sign of the times, times to come we think - certainly for most or all of 2008 with any respite not showing its face until early next year

Reductions of interest rates will happen, but certainly won't do much for the domestic mortgage market and the Average House Price Index is likely to fall by the 12% we predicted but please do not be surprised if values don't come back by 15% or even 18% off the January 1st 2008 AHP