Mortgages: Your questions

BBC Radio 4's Money Box Live Monday, 20 October 2008, at 1502 BST On Radio 4 and Online Programme transcript (19 pages)

On Monday's Money Box Live, Paul Lewis took your questions about mortgages and put them to a panel of expert guests.

The number of mortgage products available has reduced rapidly since the credit crunch began.

Mortgage providers are tightening their lending criteria, asking for larger deposits and raising fees.

And despite the recent cut in the Bank of England Base Rate of 0.5 percentage points to 4.5%, not all lenders have passed this cut on in full and some have increased their tracker rates.

So if you are coming to the end of an existing loan or trying to find your first mortgage you may be struggling to obtain a suitable offer.

How much can you borrow?

What sort of deposit will be required?

Should you consider trackers, discounted, offset or fixed rates?

What are the likely fees and is it unwise to add these to the mortgage product?

Or perhaps you are anxious about, or struggling to meet, higher mortgage costs?

What are your rights and responsibilities if you cannot meet repayments?

Where can you find free advice and help?

Whatever your question, Paul Lewis and experts were here to offer advice.

Paul Lewis was joined by:

• Ray Boulger, John Charcol
• Melanie Bien, Savills Private Finance
• Hayley Rowley, Citizens Advice

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Lesley McAlpine

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