Home Choice Loan - Revised

[NorfBank]

Home Choice Loan has changed and is now available to a wider audience of first time buyers. The new features of the Home Choice Loan are:

· It is now available for New, Second-hand and Self Build properties;
· income thresholds are now over €35,000 for single applicants and €45,000 for joint applicants;
· a variable interest rate of just 2.94% APR applies until at least January 2011;
· a requirement of at least 1 years continuous employment for all applicants;
· rent payments will now be considered in judging repayment capacity.
. maximum mortgage amount of €285,000
. 92% LTV
. only 3% of a deposit can come from a gift
. only fixed term contract self builds will be considered
. you must have been declined by 2 lenders

The last Home Choice Loan was a disaster, will this be any better? Personally I think if you have been declined by 2 lenders then you should really consider whether you can afford a mortgage. The government underwriting mortgages when the banks decline them is a bit of a worry.

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[Howitzer]

This is state sponsored sub-prime lending. End of story.

As ever, the fact that this was initially unsuccessful (and illegal according to the EU) is not a reason to wind down a quango but reinforces the notion that it must be continued.