I had a 8.75% mortgage with a balance of $45,000 on one rental, and a 7.85% loan on the other with a balance of $68,000. Given the relatively high interest rates, I decided to refinance Rental A at about 6%, and use the equity from that property to pay off the loan on Rental B. Effectively, I refinanced both in one deal. A month after closing, I received my new payment book and other papers and discovered that instead of paying off the loan on Rental B, the boobs paid off the loan on my personal home, which had roughly the same balance. When I informed the closing company of the mistake, nothing was really said or done, and after several attempts to fix things, I got tired of unreturned calls and gave up.

Besides, I thought, “Cool. I have all my risk in Rental A and two houses paid off.” The only rub is I am still paying an interest rate of 7.85%, when the rate on my house loan was around 6.25%. I plan to own rental houses forever as my “401(k)” plan, and expect to buy more. I will likely sell my home sometime in the next 10 years, once I have a family, so I will be in a better school district. Am I missing any savings by having it structured like it is? Chad Mankins, Denton, Texas.

A new cashback mortgage has been launched by Bradford & Bingley, offering borrowers an exclusive three per cent cashback tracker. Coventry Building Society is funding the cashback tracker mortgage offered by Bradford & Bingley, which has an initial rate of 5.74 per cent. This is worked out from the addition of the Bank of England base rate of 4.75 per cent plus 0.99 per cent for the next five years until September 30th 2010.After this time the loan reverts to a variable rate of 6.53 per cent for the remaining term (6.5 per cent APR).

“The three per cent cashback tracker mortgage will appeal to both homemovers and remortgagers,” explained the mortgage development manager at Bradford & Bingley, Duncan Pownall. “The cashback element in particular offers a helping hand for first time movers, who may have benefited from the house price growth of recent years and now enjoy a healthy level of equity within their property, but are now faced with much larger moving costs. “Mr Pownall added: “For those remortgagers who are looking to improve rather than move, the cashback also provides a great option.

Charcol has revealed figures that show mortgage arrangement fees have increased on average by 42 per cent in the last six months.The fee that mortgage lenders charge borrowers to take out competitive loans stood at £339 in July 2004 - with that figure now up to £480.With so much competition in the mortgage market and as consumers become more financially savvy, lenders are searching out new ways to make profits, as Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at Charcol, explained.”The UK mortgage market is arguably the most competitive in the world.

This competition has been hugely beneficial to the consumer,” he commented.Charcol’s research found that fees increased, on average, 53 per cent since the start of 2004, with well over three-quarters of this jump occurring in the second half of the year. Mr Boulger advised: “With regards to features, the general message to borrowers is don’t pay extra for features you won’t use but, for borrowers who will make use of them, there is a wide choice of mortgages offering varying degrees of flexibility.”He concluded that it was “very easy” for borrowers to succumb to lenders’ advertising and urged them to be scrupulous when choosing a loan.

Despite the uncertain future of the housing market four out of ten Britons plan to move house in 2005. This is according to a recent poll carried out.The survey revealed a number of facts about the nations house buying habits. Fifty per cent of mortgage holders opt for a variable rate loan.

However, whilst 90 per cent of borrowers know what their repayments are, only seven out of ten know what interest rate they are paying.Despite the potential benefits of changing mortgages only half of borrowers have made a switch in the last three years.

Perhaps more could use the advice of an independent financial advisor, at the moment only 50 per cent take advantage of these services.Moneyfacts web editor, Emma Butler, said: “It is worrying that many consumers do not know much detail about their mortgage and that so few people have changed their mortgage for some time.”With mortgage balances being so high the potential savings of changing to a better deal can be thousands of pounds,” she added.

Leeds & Holbeck Building Society has launched a five-year buy to let mortgage aimed at landlords wishing to remortgage properties in their portfolio.The loan tracks Bank of England base rate plus one per cent, making the current rate 5.75 per cent. It comes with a free valuation and free use of Leeds & Holbeck’s legal service for remortgages.

There is an administration fee of £199, which can be added to the value of the loan at completion. Karen Wint, Leeds & Holbeck head of marketing, said: “Our sales teams have all been telling us that there is real demand for a specific remortgage buy to let product.”We think this loan offers a great combination of a free valuation and easy to use legal service, without having to pay fees up-front. It may be of particular interest to landlords with more than one property.

Fears about mortgage loan payments top the list of money worries among Brits, according to new figures.A survey by the CPP Group, which provides credit card protection and other consumer assistance services, found that the number of people worried about meeting their financial commitments in the next three months has more than doubled.

The number of people who felt they would be unable to meet all their financial commitments in the final three months of the year soared to 28 per cent from 17 per cent for the previous quarter.The figure is a substantial 65 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase.Mortgage repayments remained the key concern (29 per cent), but there was also a big increase in the number of people worried about paying their council tax (26 per cent).

Among the over 55s, 45 per cent were worried about council tax arrears.Shirley Woolham, head of financial health at the CPP Group, said: “With the UK economy slowing down, it is even more important that consumers stay in control of their finances, as a weaker economy is no guarantee that interest rates will remain on hold.”

Property research group Hometrack has rejected a warning that house prices are set to crash.The group has states that it does not agree with a report by Capital Economics, which claims that house prices will fall by 20 per cent.Suggesting that the report “overplays” the severity of the housing market’s future, Hometrack argues that property prices are stabilising, rather than on the verge of freefall.

According to its own research, there is a different story to tell, which is that property prices have fallen by a total of just 0.5 per cent in the last three months and that figure is not consistent with a price crash.John Wriglesworth, chief housing economist at Hometrack has admitted that house prices “have reached the end of the recent boom period”.However, he went on to say: “[T]he economy at present is in no way similar to that of the early 1990s.”

A new mortgage offer from the building society Bristol & West is promising to get more graduates on the property ladder. Much has been made of the debt problems facing young people when they finish university. Record debts of around £10,000 make it very difficult for graduates to get a foot on the property ladder.

Bristol & West’s 1st Start enables parents to go in with their children to boost their borrowing power. “1st Start is an exciting innovation in the mortgage market that meets a very pressing need,” said Paul Vinnicombe, senior product manager at Bristol & West. “Many parents are caught between a rock and a hard place, on the one hand wanting to help their children get on the property ladder and on the other needing to maximise their retirement savings.

The high street bank HSBC has launched a new mortgage product aimed at first time buyers. HSBC is hoping to tap into the growing concern about the financial barriers to getting a foot on the property ladder.

The bank is offering first time buyers the option to go interest only for the first three years of a new mortgage to enable them to cover their moving costs. “HSBC has launched the first time buyer package, supported by a low-cost range of fixed rates,” Sian Lehrter, head of mortgages at HSBC said. “The idea is to get reduced monthly payments when it’s most important but without the longer term risks of an interest-only mortgage.”HSBC claims that moving house costs an average of more than £5,000.

National franchiser, Mortgageforce, has announced it has received the coveted ‘Grant of Permission’ under Part IV of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.It is the first firm of its kind to receive the Grant, the Mortgage Introducer website reports.Nic Lewis, sales & development director, commented: “Whilst firms of our experience and scale had complete confidence in securing FSA authorisation, it is a highly significant moment when the FSA confirmation actually arrives.

We are naturally delighted.”Many industry experts argue that franchising remains the safest way to start and build your own business.Indeed, a recent survey by the British Franchise Association’s annual survey found that over 90 per cent of franchises reach profitability, compared with 3 in every 5 small businesses going bust outside of franchising.