HSBC pledges to increase mortgage lending

Date:Tuesday 9th December 2008
Author: Max Freedman

Mortgage lender HSBC has stated its intention to increase mortgage lending next year.

But the bank is not going to be making the situation easier for first-time buyers, with most of its lending likely to be for existing mortgage holders who are moving house or just changing their mortgage deals.

Those with smaller deposits still face higher fees and rates.

HSBC has earmarked £15 billion for mortgage lending for 2009, which is approximately twice the figure it lent in 2007.

A large, global bank, it has not been affected as much by the economic turmoil as many of its British competitors.

Meanwhile, Nationwide tracker mortgages are undergoing a change.

The building society said it expects to relaunch a new range of tracker mortgage deals next week, but said that existing customers on tracker deals will be unaffected.

It explained that such borrowers will enjoy the one per cent fall in the Bank of England base rate.