Lloyds TSB Page 1

Mortgage deals from Lloyds TSB bank

The Co-operative Bank to Buy out Lloyds Branches

It seems that the Co-operative bank is to purchase 632 Lloyds branches, with a bid thought to be worth around £1 million.

Lloyds TSB, the state rescued bank which is 41% owned by the government, is being forced to sell some of its branches under European Union competition rules. These rules ensure that competition with in the EU is not restricted or distorted. Read more

Halifax and Experian to Help First Time Buyers

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) have stated that just 16% of total sales in October 2011 were to first time buyers, this figure is down from 22% in September 2011. This is the biggest drop since December 2008.

With rising rental costs, strict lending criteria and high deposit demands it is nearly impossible for the average first time buyer to enter the housing market. Read more

The Halifax £500 Million Payout

Lloyds banking group has set aside £500 million to voluntarily redress an estimated 300,000 Halifax customers who were potentially confused by its standard variable rate (SVR) cap. Read more

Lloyds Cutting Deep

The Lloyds TSB Banking Group are cutting yet more jobs. In early August the Group decided to axe 40 staff in their Wales region.

Earlier this year, the Lloyds banking group removed 15,000 jobs from their balance sheet and Mr Horta-Osorio said that he wants Lloyds to be the best bank for the customers. So to continue in the vein that they have been following for the last few years, they are set to remove a further 15,000 jobs from the group, accounting for about 14 per cent of the work force. Mr Horta-Osorio is widely known and has commented that he intents to see out the strategic vision he has for the group.

One of the aims is to reduce the groups over all visibility on in the international community and focus more on the UK. The group also aims to meet its £1.5 billion annual savings by 2014. This, it would seem, is being done through cutting staff and making the organisation a little leaner and retracting from areas that don’t make major profits.

So far, since the Lloyds merger with HBOS, the Lloyds group has removed over 27,500 jobs from their organisation but comments internally are resolute about not closing any branches. All the cuts seem to be in their back office functions and in middle management. Insiders have commented that among these changes will be “better end-to-end processes and IT platforms, a de-layered management structure and simpler legal structure, [and] centralised support functions”.

The market took the job cuts quite well as the Lloyds group closed up 9.7 per cent on the Stock Exchange in London, the biggest rise for the day on the top 100 companies index.

The BBC’s Robert Paterson said that “Never have so many jobs been shed by a single bank in British history” going on to say “He wants to do as much of [the job cuts] through redeployment and natural attrition as redundancies, but there are bound to be redundancies,” “They want to bring top management closer to branch management – so there’s a whole swathe of managers for whom that is incredibly bad news.”

The cost cutting exercise within the group will cost about £2.3 billion but will free up about £2 billion for investment in 2011 – 2014 in an effort to “revitalise Halifax” and the other business under the Lloyds group banner.

“Our aim is to become the best bank for customers,” said Mr Horta-Osorio.

“We will unlock the potential in this franchise over time by creating a simpler, more agile and responsive organisation, and by making substantial investments in better-value products and services for our customers.”

Unite, the largest union in the country, said that this news would cause “deep distress and anxiety”. Going further to say that “This review is merely another box-ticking exercise to give this bank – which has already, since its creation two years ago, cut over 27,000 staff – an excuse to sack more employees.”

HSBC is also cutting 700 jobs in its UK retail banking arm but then again, HSBC isn’t owned by the UK tax payers.

Lenders cut fixed rate mortgages

Mortgages are more affordable than at any time in the past 12 years. The average borrowers repayments, today take up just 28% of their take home pay, the lowest level since 1999. By contrast in 2007 mortgage repayments ate up 48% of earnings. Read more

A blunder by the Halifax?

Would be first time buyers are struggling to get on to the property ladder due to few lenders offering 95% loan to value (LTV) mortgages. However the guardian reported that there are approximately 31 of these products available, this is an increase from January 2011 which showed 24 products and just 6 were available in June 2009. Read more

Halifax Reviews Range of Mortgates

The Halifax has been reviewing its charges on a number of its products, as part of the Halifax review it has been decided to reduce charges on its fixed rate for both customers looking to re mortgage and also homebuyers. Read more

Lloyds Cutting Again

The Lloyds banking group are to release a further 15,000 more jobs and Mr Horta-Osorio said that he wants Lloyds to be the best bank for the customers. So to continue in the vein that they have been following for the last few years, they are set to remove a further 15,000 jobs from the group, accounting for about 14 per cent of the work force. Read more

Lloyds Under the Knife

Lloyds is being forced to sell 632 branches by the European Union in part as payment for the £20 billion it received in state aid. State aid that helped keep it afloat during the crisis in 2007 and it’s faltering in 2008. Read more

95 Per Cent Mortgage Deals

Thousands of first time buyers across England will be reading the reports in the press with baited breathe at the potential for a 95 per cent mortgage coming onto the market soon. Read more