Which? says mortgages with a higher loan-to-value level are more likely to be offered without a fee in a bid to attract first-time-buyers with less money to spare.Īnalysts at the consumer champion have compiled this table which shows how much someone would pay over two years, on a £200,000 mortgage fixed to a 25-year term, in different scenarios:Īn expert adviser on retail theft has cautioned supermarkets against creating 'threatening and intimidating' aisles full of barriers, security tags and dummy products. The average fee tends to hover around the £999 mark- and high fees can sometimes disguise attractive rates, so make sure you go through all the details with your mortgage broker. The effect of interest rates on mortgage costs is a significant issue on the minds of first-time buyers and those approaching the end of their fix.īut people looking to find a new deal also have to consider the possibility that their policy may come with an upfront fee - a less-discussed aspect of the mortgage-hunting process.Īnalysis by consumer champion Which? found that six in 10 fixed-rate and tracker mortgages on the market now come with product fees - with the highest charge sitting at a whopping £3,999 set by Halifax. 'Based on the £1.81trn that Brits have in savings accounts, it means the nation's savings could have collectively lost as much as £113bn over the past year in real terms.' The average saver with £1,000 in an easy-access account will now find their cash is only worth £938 in today's money, Ms Suter added.

'Although interest rates have risen considerably over the past year and a half, savers still lost money in real terms thanks to double-digit inflation for much of that period,' she said.

The platform's head of personal finance Laura Suter says savers are 'still being pummelled' despite a slight fall in inflation, as they put up with lower returns on their savings. The rising cost of living has left many of us feeling the pinch in our day to day lives - but also when it comes to preparing for the future.Īnalysis by investment platform AJ Bell suggests that as much as £113bn may have been wiped off the value of the nation's savings in real terms over the past year as a result of rising inflation.

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