Ivan Force is looking to buy a property in Bath. With a household income of �27,000 a year - even with a �10,000 deposit - he says he just can't afford to buy a decent home in this area.

Is there an end in sight for him or will he be renting forever?

It's a problem facing a lot of people and frankly a lot of properties are priced out of affordability.

Bath is a hotspot, but there are some local housing associations he could contact to see if he could buy a property on perhaps a shared ownership basis.

That way he could at least get his foot into the market. He won't get a 100% benefit - he might only be able to buy 50% of the property - but it's a start.

Ian Lamont is at the end of his first five-year fixed term mortgage. His lender wants to charge a �200 arrangment fee to set up another fixed term deal.

How can they justify this and what hidden charges - if any - can he expect if he switched to another lender?

Fixed rates almost all carry booking fees. There are two reasons for it

Firstly, the lender uses the money that they are going to generate from those fees to work back int the product and that will determine what what rate they will offer it at.

But secondly, with fixed interest rates what lenders are very scared about is that they have a lot of people signing up for the deal then rates fall for some reason and all of those customers suddenly jump ship.

So it's almost a fee to lock customers into a particular rate.

Having said that, most lenders will charge a higher interest rate for existing customers than they will for newer customers, so it's worth dipping a toe in the market and looking around to see if there are any better deals.

Julie: Dates don't match

Julie Crockford from Southampton asks: "Can you explain what actually happens when your endowment end dates are later than your mortgage end date?

"Our mortgage of �53,000 ends in 2010 but one endowment for �45,000 ends in 2012 and the other for �8,000 ends in 2017."

Something has gone awry here.

The mortgage terms should match the last maturing endowment policy.

The term doesn't make any difference to the amount you're paying to the lender because with the endowment mortgage it's only interest - there's no element of capital.

So what she needs to be doing is getting in touch with her lender and asking them to extend that term to match the last maturing policy.

There may be a small administration fee - a lender might charge �50 or �100 for making that kind of arrangement.

Ben Ford and his flatmate are both prospective first-time buyers that currently rent in London.

Because it is so expensive they've got no chance of getting on the property ladder - would any lenders give them a joint mortgage despite them not being a couple?

Yes, they will and there are a lot of people doing that.

They should pool their resources, but the downside is that you need to know what's going to happen to the property if you decide to go your separate ways in the future.

"I've got a few county court judgements which count against me until this time next year, but two will stay on until 2008 as I was unemployed and couldn't pay my bills," says Mr Taylor from West Yorkshire.

"Can I get a mortgage with defaults even though they've now been paid?"

Lenders wil lend where there have been judgements, even if they haven't been paid off.

But you will find that you'll pay a higher interest rate.

Also, you may have to go off the High Street to a specialist lender.

From a lender's perspective they will want to see that you were perhaps in an unfortunate situation where you couldn't pay your debts.

If it was a scenaraio where you just wouldn't pay, they will be much less likely to want to lend.

James Cameron is a postgraduate living with his wife in Glasgow. They're currently lucky enough to be living rent-free so can save for a deposit on a house.

But James is worried that his �7,100 student loan - on which he can defer repayments - will affect the mortgage options available to them.

Is he better off saving for a deposit or starting to pay off his loan?

He's definitely better off saving for a deposit so he can get on the housing ladder.

Most lenders these days will ignore student loans and particularly if he's able to defer the payments on them they shouldn't take it into account and it won't impact on how much he can borrow.

Mr and Mrs Chris Dawes are newlyweds and want to buy their first marital home on an income of �30,000 before tax.

They're looking to take out a �90,000 mortgage and pay a 10% deposit on their dream �100,000 home. What kind of mortgage should they be looking at?

If they're worried about stretching their income - and first-time buyers often are pushing their limit - they should think about a fixed or capped interest rate so they know exactly what the maximum monthly payment would be.

If you're looking at a fixed rate period we would probably say to fix for between two amd five years as that's where the most competitive deals are right now.

As with all mortgages avoid deals that lock you in beyond that fixed rate period.

Daniel White has taken out a �100,000 mortgage over 25 years at a fixed rate of 4.64% for the first five years.

He can make overpayments of up to �500 a month - without penalty - to reduce the term. As he's looking to move in three years, is he better making the overpayments or saving the money in an independent Isa?

He should definitely overpay at the moment.

If he was to put the money in an Isa he would need to achieve at least 4.64% net to break even.

In today's market he's not going to get that on a savings account so it's in his financial interest to pay off the debt.

Another viewer asks: "Can you please help me with where I can get the cheapest mortgage with less interest to pay?

"I'm currently with the Halifax and I think it's too expensive."

The keenest deals are always those which are available to new customers so it pays to shop around.

Decide if you want a fixed rate or a variable rate and then just look in the national press to see what rates are available or talk to a broker.

It can also be worth asking your current lender if they will offer you a better deal if you stay with them.

Then you'll have a figure to work from and will know if other offers are a good deal or not.