Top five articles of last week:
IFA granted appeal for drunkenly abusing clients
Budget 2012: Kick start market with new 2% Stamp Duty tier – agent
Watchdog bans “misleading” estate agency ad
Sale satisfies Aldermore’s interest-only criteria
Mortgage Advice Bureau buys Mortgage Talk
Sale satisfies Aldermore
On Monday, Aldermore announced it has chosen to clarify its interest-only criteria, outlining the fact sale of property remains among its acceptable repayment vehicles.
MAB merger
Adviser franchise and network Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) revealed it bought Mortgage Talk in exchange for shares in the MAB Group.
Abusing clients
An IFA who admitted to offending a client while drinking alcohol has been given the right to appeal an employment tribunal’s decision that her sacking was justified.
Domino effect
Earlier this week, both Nationwide Building Society and Coventry Building Society cut their maximum LTV for interest-only lending from 75% to 50%.
“Misleading” ad
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned an advert promoting the partnership between an estate agent and a company that offered alternative property solutions for over-60s.
Budget 2012
The Chancellor George Osborne raised Stamp Duty on £2m properties as part of a tax raid on the wealthy in his third Budget this week.
advice opt-out
In this week’s Market Watch, we asked Legal & General, Finance Planning Group and Pink Home Loans to offer their thoughts on whether there should be an advice opt-out in the MMR
Dress to impress
Our anonymous specialist lender blogger, the Insider, gives us the lowdown on what NOT to wear to work, in his latest blog for Mortgage Solutions.
And finally…top tweets
Tim Fowler @timlibrarian
The big bottle of gin I bought earlier was £22 after the budget but I’m still going to party like its £19.99.
Henry Pryor @HenryPryor
I once pretended to know about mortgages, the next thing I see @melaniebien has parked her tank on my lawn!
Prince Charles @Charles_HRH
How strange. Watched a whole episode of Crimewatch, and not one mention of Mr Osborne’s forthcoming Budget. #crimewatch
Andrew Michael @headlinemoneyEd
Most closely scrutinised Budget ever? The Times’ coverage mentions that ‘the patina on the leather of George’s briefcase is just wrong’.
Chuka Umunna @ChukaUmunna
Vince Cable said the government’s measures on growth are “frankly, rather piecemeal”. George Osborne’s budget only confirms this.
