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Most lenders will have some kind of fee for shutting down a mortgage account and this was traditionally to cover the cost of releasing the title deeds back to you. The fee itself will be perfectly legitimate but it is worth asking your lender if you can leave a small balance on the mortgage, which will mean that they will keep and look after the deeds for you rather than you having to find a safe place for storage, such as a solicitor. Just be sure to check whether they make any charge for this service.

Tayyib asks:

Are there mortgages available for university students?

The problem for students in securing a mortgage is that they have no or limited income to support the mortgage. Lenders need to be able to see that an applicant can afford the mortgage rather than just lend against the value of the property.

There are lenders that may be able to help if parents are happy to guarantee the mortgage and Bath Building Society has recently launched a &39; mortgage where parental guarantee and rental income from lodgers can be used to support the mortgage. Primarily aimed at Bath and Bristol, other university towns can be considered.

Once you&39;t expecting was Abbey to charge the sum of 225 for simply repaying the mortgage by transferring it to a different lender! When I first entered the mortgage, this figure was set at 99 and was to cover &39;. Abbey informed me that they increased the fee to 225 in May 2005 and that I would have been informed of this when I received my statement at the end of 2004 (having taken the mortgage out from April of the same year).

This is simply my word against Abbey&39;s not surprising you don&39;s house when she died some 12 years ago. My other two brothers also have a third each. In accordance with my mother&39;t be, although it would be worth checking with your insurer, which should be able to tell you for sure. Going back, endowments were often assigned to the lender and the policy held by them but this practice became increasingly rare in recent years, so policies may never have been assigned to the lender. In any case, the assignment should have been released when your mortgage was repaid as part of the process. There is no harm in double-checking the state of play with the policy provider.

However, it sounds like you decided to keep hold of the policy despite winning your complaint but you will not face any clawback on the compensation paid if the revival of the markets leads to the expected level of performance. Of course you may well still have a shortfall and it&39;ll be trapped in the house for years upon end until the value returns to the sum I paid for it. Could you recommend the best mortgage for first time buyers with a limited credit history?

There is always a chance that the housing market could fall although that certainly isn&39;t be repaid from the sale proceeds. It therefore only becomes a real problem if you need or want to sell the property and cannot make up the difference from other funds.

I think that you need to decide whether you are happy to take on home ownership first of all, as it is a big commitment and not something to rush into if you are unsure. Property prices have always done well in the long term but buying a home should not really be seen as a short-term option.

In terms of mortgages available, most lenders will be happy to lend to a first time buyer and can even offer up to 100% of the purchase price. This does increase your risk of negative equity so it is better and usually cheaper to put down a deposit.

Rob in Swansea asks:

I am about to start a self-build project. The build will cost around 100k. I currently live in a house with a very small mortgage of 80 a month. This house is worth 120,000 and I intend to sell it when the new one is ready. I could finance the development with stockmarket-based investments but would it be better to take out a short term loan?

Could you suggest some options?

If you don&39;t lock into a product if you intend to repay all or most of the mortgage when you come to sell the property. Therefore, go for something with no early repayment charges.

Alternatively, you could use a self-build mortgage that will release funds at certain stages as the build progresses. The deals on offer can be more limited than a mortgage on your home although plenty of lenders such as Norwich & Peterborough are happy to lend against self-build projects. There is also lots of information available on Buildstore&39;overpayment&39; products are now daily interest but there are still some operating on annual interest. If your mortgage is calculated annually you would be better saving the excess and then overpaying just before the interest is property casualty insurance indianapolis, usually at the end of the year.

John asks:

My son is looking to buy a flat/house in or around Cape Town. Where might he find out about the best mortgage providers?

This depends to an extent on whether your son lives permanently in Cape Town or is looking to purchase the overseas property as a holiday home. UK lenders are not going to lend against a property in South Africa in either instance.

Your son will probably be better to approach South African banks and advisers. However, if he is resident in the UK then he could approach a specialist in overseas mortgages such as Conti Financial Services Ltd - www.property and liability insurance principle.com

Ruth asks:

Do I have to surrender my endowment policies at maturity or can I continue to pay into the policies after maturity so that I can recoup any shortfall? Would you advise this as a course of action or would it be preferable to take a completely separate course of remedial action and what should this be?

Once the policies mature and pay out, that is the end of the policy, so you will not make any further premium payments. If you have a shortfall on an endowment to repay your mortgage then it is important that you take some action now rather than waiting to see what happens.

Rather than increase payments to the endowment, you could start to put money away in an alternative investment although there will be risk with any stockmarket-linked investment not reaching its target. You could put the shortfall amount of your mortgage onto repayment, which will ensure that you chip away at the capital over the remaining term, leaving the proceeds of the endowment to hopefully clear the balance.

Anne asks:

Where can my neice obtain a 100% mortgage, to get her on the property ladder.

There are plenty of lenders that offer 100% mortgages but it&39;s known as a higher lending charge. This is charged by some lenders on mortgages greater than 90% of the property value and can amount to thousands of pounds in some cases. There are deals available that do not charge this amount and even though the rate may be a touch higher it will generally work out cheaper.

Lenders such as Portman, Coventry, Newcastle and Northern Rock all offer rates to 100% without any higher lending charge.

Mr. Woods writes:

My daughter is engaged to an Australian who is on a two year visa with a view to permanent residency in the UK. They have just been refused a mortgage by a leading building society, which they believe is due to the visa issue. Are there any other options open to them in order to obtain their mortgage during his visa period?

Lenders will be reticent to lend to a foreign national without a permanent right to reside although it is worth checking with the lender to see if they can confirm that it was that issue that caused the application to be declined.

Some lenders, such as Accord Mortgages are more flexible than others when it comes to lending to those on a visa. However, even those lenders will prefer to see that your daughter&39;s and not the programme's. The answers are not intended to be definitive and should be used for guidance only. Always seek professional advice for your own particular situation.