HSBC launches new mortgage range

HSBC has announced a range of new mortgages, with rates starting from 4.95 per cent for a two-year fixed-rate package.

Discount offers from 4.79 per cent are also available as part of the bank’s new range, as well as lifetime trackers from 5.34 per cent. All of these offers are available up to 90 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) with a booking fee of £599.

All fixed and discounted rates will revert to the HSBC variable rate – this is currently 5.75 per cent, but will change to six per cent on October 1st 2006.

No higher lending charges will be set on any rates, including those at 95 per cent LTV, or 100 per cent for graduates.

There are also no extended early repayment charges (ERCs) on the fixed and discounted rates, no ERCs on the tracker mortgages and no exit fees on any HSBC mortgages.

Carina Kemp, head of mortgages at HSBC, said: “With a growing trend for lenders to introduce higher fees in return for lower rates, in some cases up to 1.5 per cent of the amount borrowed, HSBC’s ‘rate saver’ mortgage range offers our lowest rates without asking customers to pay through the nose in return for value.”

There is a fee-free option available on all HSBC product types, which does not charge a booking, valuation or funds transfer fee, or a standard alternative which balances rates with the lender’s booking fee of £399.