Dave - Make Some Noodles

Maybe a bit too late for some people but this short video clip explains the global credit crisis brilliantly.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

BEXHILL-BASED mortgage broker Eastbourne Financial Services Ltd is at the centre of a suspected £40m fraud investigation. Officers from the City of London Police arrested eight people in connection with the probe into fraud affecting mortgages taken out on more than 500 properties in the South of England between 2005-2007.
The seven men and one woman [...]

The Bank of England yesterday agreed to make everyone on a tracker mortgage richer by reducing the base rates again. This time the base rate was reduced by 0.5% bringing it to an all time low of 0.5%.
This rate cut will benefit everyone on a tracker or discount mortgage which tracks the bank of england [...]

The Royal Bank of Scotland lost a record £24 Billion last year, I’m sure most people should have heard that by now. This is the biggest loss in UK corporate history.
The man behind it all Fred Goodwin is still to recieve his £650k per year pension as a well done pat on the back. This [...]

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted today to reduce the official Bank Rate to 1 percent. Thats the fifth rate cut in a row as the UK recession takes its toll. The rate cut is good news for borrowers and struggling businesses with existing loans. Savers are hit again though as the interest [...]

The struggling bank may see as much as 10 billion pounds of cash from the government to ramp up mortgage lending. The Treasury has yet to make a final decision, which may also see the bank hiring new staff. Spokesmen for the Treasury and Northern Rock, which is due to unveil a new business plan [...]

The Government now has a £200m package of measures designed to prevent some of the most vulnerable families losing their homes due to repossession. The government scheme subject to a range of eligibility criteria is aimed at households who are eligible for homelessness assistance. In the scheme housing association will be able to buy part [...]

Is this another sign of the credit crunch?
During May Birmingham Midshires added a note to their mortgage book with the CML (Council of Mortgage Lenders)

5.1.1- Contact point if the seller has owned the property for less than 6 months.
Completions Team at office issuing mortgage instructions. See Offer for contact details.
NB We will not normally proceed [...]

Whilst I was away I was informed that Mortgage Express, one of my favourite mortgage lenders had overnight pulled the plug on their instant remortgage product. Mortgage Express were the only major mortgage company to allow an investor to remortgage their property before owning it for 6 months. An instant remortgage product allows investors to [...]

In the last 2 weeks or so ALL UK banks and lending institutions that I and my fellow investors use seem to have tightened their belts and repriced their mortgage products. Fixed rates have gone up as well as variable tracker rates. Arrangement fees are also still stupidly high.
Even though UK Interest rates have [...]