Which? Money has revealed that mortgage providers are charging their customers over 39 different types of mortgage fees. It states that the number and level of fees has gone up since the beginning of the financial crisis, with four in five two-year tracker mortgages charging over £990 in set-up fees in 2010, compared to one in five in 2007.
Set-up and additional fees can include anything from booking, administration, arrangement and valuation fees, to charges for falling into arrears, changing from interest-only to repayment and choosing to take out buildings insurance with another mortgage provider.
Which says most lenders now charge more than 20 types of additional fee, with Newcastle Building Society having 29, closely followed by Ipswich Building Society with 28 and several others on 27.
However, a handful of providers have kept the number of charges to a minimum – Stafford Railway charges just three types of fee.
But a spokeswoman for Newcastle Building Society, says: “As part of our Treating Customers Fairly policy we choose to be transparent as an organisation and ensure our customers have easy access to the information they need, the disclosure of mortgage fees forms part of this.’
Finding the right mortgage used to be simple, but now consumer’s need to make sure they ask about all of the costs associated with applying for mortgage products.
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