Our top 10 articles of 2019

As 2019 draws to a close, Financial Reporter is taking a look back at our biggest articles from 2019. Which stories were most important to you this year?

Related topics:  Finance News
Rozi Jones
27th December 2019
2019

10. Sainsbury's Bank exits mortgage market

In September, Sainsbury's Bank announced that it was no longer accepting new mortgage applications, following the closure of a number of lenders including Magellan, Tesco Bank and Secure Trust Bank.

9. Nationwide launches full later life mortgage range

Back in April, Nationwide became the first major high street lender to launch a package of mortgage products and advice for older borrowers. In August, Nationwide made its later life mortgage range available to the wider market. The range includes a retirement capital and interest product, a retirement interest-only product and a lifetime mortgage.

8. State pension age rumours spark concerns over pension freedoms

This summer, the Government was urged to confirm that pension freedoms will be available from age 55 even if the state pension age increases further. Aegon highlighted that the minimum age at which individuals can access their pension could be at risk of rising, linked to increases in state pension age.

7. Virgin Money launches 15-year fixed rate mortgage

Virgin Money was among a raft of lenders introducing long-term fixed rates this year, bringing fixed rates of longer than ten years to the UK mortgage market.

6. Regulated peer-to-peer firm enters administration

In October, FundingSecure was placed into administration following the introduction of new FCA rules to better protect investors using peer-to-peer platforms. The rules place a limit on investments in P2P agreements for retail customers new to the sector and were introduced after Lendy entered administration earlier in the year. At the time of its closure, Lendy had over £160m in outstanding loans with more than £90m in default.

5. Halifax launches 0.98% mortgage rate

Along with 15-year fixed rates, 2019 saw the reintroduction of sub-1% mortgage rates to the market. Halifax's two-year tracker mortgage at 0.98% was the first sub-1% product launched in over a year.

4. Government launches shared ownership right to buy scheme

In October, the government announced plans for a new national model for shared ownership which will allow people to get on the housing ladder with deposits as low as £2,000. Under the plans, tenants in new housing association properties will be given an automatic right to buy a share of their home from as little as 10%, with the ability to increase that share over time up to full ownership.

3. 'Unlawful' pension schemes to cost government £4bn a year

In July, the Supreme Court ruled that changes made to firefighters’ pensions in 2015 were discriminatory. The Court ruled that the changes, which meant workers 10 years from retirement were protected from reforms which saw younger workers moved to less generous pensions, "gave rise to unlawful age discrimination". Under the 2015 changes, workers 10 years from retirement were protected from reforms which saw younger workers moved to less generous pensions.

The government will now have to remedy the policy across other public sector schemes including the NHS, civil service, local government, teachers, police, armed forces and judiciary.

2. 40% of homeowners breaking '28% rule' on mortgage repayments

Research published in October found that 40% of the UK’s homeowners are spending more than a third of their salaries on mortgage repayments. This goes against recommendations centring around the 28% rule, which states that you should not dedicate more than this amount of your gross monthly income on your rent or mortgage.

1. Retirees set for 4% State Pension rise in 2020

The most read story of 2019 was the news that state pensioners will see an inflation busting 4% increase in their state pension from next April thanks to the triple lock. This means the full new State Pension will see an increase from £168.60p/w to £175.35p/w and the full old basic State Pension will see a rise from £129.20p/w to £134.35p/w.

The triple lock was announced back in 2010 as a way of making sure pensioners didn’t lag behind the working age population in terms of their State Pension purchasing power. It was first used to increase State Pensions in April 2011 and since then, state pensioners have done well from the triple lock with overall increases outstripping both price inflation and earnings growth.

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