Abbey

Abbey continues to offer some excellent residential products. The pick of the current range is its tracker rate at 4.44% for two years from completion. Available to 75% loan-to-value (LTV), this has a £649 booking fee (which can be added to the loan) and early repayment charges (ERCs) during the tracker period. There is also a remortgage package on this product including free valuation and remortgage legal fees but the arrangement fee increases to £699. These products are available to a maximum loan of £500,000 and, for loans up to £2m, the fee increases again to £849 for purchase clients and £899 for remortgage clients.

To 90% LTV, Abbey has a rate at 0.04% over BBR for two years. This has a £499 fee and ERCs within the two years. There is also a remortgage package available on this product.

In terms of fixed rates, Abbey offers a 4.69% fix to 02/08/08. Available to 75% LTV this has a £549 booking fee and ERCs of 65 days’ interest during the fixed period. For remortgage clients the same product is available with a higher booking fee of £599. To 90% LTV the rate increases to 4.79% to 02/08/08 with a £449 booking fee and ERCs of 70 days’ interest during the fixed period. The rate remains the same for remortgage clients with a remortgage package, where the booking fee increases to £499.

Abbey also has a competitive range of flexible products. Available to 90%, its short-term tracker scheme at 4.24% (0.26% under BBR) for six months followed by 0.75% over BBR for the lifetime of the loan is a good looking product. This has a £499 arrangement fee and no ERCs at any time. It also offers a great long-term value product at 0.49% over BBR for the term of the loan. Available to 90% LTV, this has a £599 arrangement fee and no ERCs at any time unless clients take a home-buyer’s or remortgage package.

Accord

Accord has some useful residential products in its current range. Its 100% LTV products are available with the higher lending charge (HLC) paid, and are worth a look. The pick of these schemes is the discounted rate offering a 1% discount for three years from completion (payrate 5.5%). Not only is the HLC paid by Accord, but there is also a refund of valuation fee (max £320). There is a £495 arrangement fee and ERCs of 3% during the three-year period.

I also like the fixed rate of 5.69% to 30/04/09. This has a £595 arrangement fee and ERCs of 3% during the fixed period. Accord will again refund the valuation fee (max £320) and pay the HLC on this product. The standard discounted rate is also worth consideration. This offers a 1.73% discount from SVR for three years from completion (payrate 4.77%). Available to 95% LTV (HLC payable over 90% LTV), this has ERCs of 3% within the three years.

Accord also offers a range of self-certification products. To 85% LTV, the pick of these rates is its 1.36% discount for three years (payrate 5.14%). This has a £595 arrangement fee and ERCs of 5%/4%/3% during the discount period. There is also a ‘fees assist’ version of this product with a 1.25% discount (payrate 5.25%) with a £300 cashback and refund of valuation fee (max £320).

Accord also offers an interesting offset product. This gives a discount of 1.21% from SVR (payrate 5.29%) for five years from completion. Available to 95% LTV (HLC payable over 90% LTV) there is a £495 arrangement fee and ERCs on a sliding scale within the discount period. There is a refund of the valuation fee (max £320) and a full offset savings facility linked to the mortgage.