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The Bank of England has announced that it is cutting the base interest rate to an all time low of 1 percent! This has gone a long way to strengthening the pound in a turbulent global economy. I a single day of trading the pound rose 1.7 percent.

Landlords also stand to benefit from this cut provided that their mortgage is not fixed for a set period. If their buy to let mortgage is a variable rate or tracker mortgage then they will be reaping the benefits of this cut with lower monthly repayments. Unlike most times of economic hardship benefit the buy to let landlord as interest rates are frequently cut, and it is rumored that there may even be a cut to zero percent!

Although the banks have been slow to react there is evidence that a number are now cutting rates to reflect the revised interest rates. If you are a landlord considering a new buy to let mortgage you may want to consider a non-fixed rate mortgage to benefit from any further rate cuts.

The Government is set to guarantee billions of pounds of loans to small businesses in an effort to boost the credit available to companies across the UK. It was announced that ministers will guarantee about £20 billion of loans to businesses of 50 employees or less. the conservatives have called for a similar plan offering a £50 Billion commitment.

The government could guarantee up to 95% of a companies loan with the taxpayer picking up the bill if they fail to repay it.

It is understood that ministers will back about £20 billion of loans to small companies, which are businesses with 50 employees or fewer, which the taxpayer will end up underwriting if a firm goes bust. The programme would run on the same principle as the present small business scheme, whereby the Government guarantees 75 per cent of a loan of up to £250,000. The Body Shop, Waterstones, the bookshop owned by HMV, and Coffee Republic, the coffee chain, were all set up using funding from the small business loan guarantee scheme.

The Bank of England has announced that it has lent £185bn to financial institutions since April under its special liquidity scheme (SLS). This scheme was setup to allow banks to temporarily swap assets the are difficult to trade such as mortgage backed debt. The exchanges were backed until 30th January. The Bank Of England stated that 32 banks and building societies took part in the scheme.

Fraudulent mortgage brokers are being targeted by the FSA.

A mortgage broker who tried to defraud insurance firms of more than £250,000 has been banned by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).Peter King, ran the New Forest Mortgage Company in Bournemouth and made 39 bogus applications for life insurance policies to claim the commissions paid by the insurance firms. The FSA said it would have also imposed a substantial fine on him, but for the fact that Mr King is now bankrupt. “Peter King acted dishonestly and without integrity and posed a risk to consumers and to confidence in the financial system as a whole,” said Margaret Cole, the FSA’s director of enforcement.