Mortgages

Record numbers of people are complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service about mortgages – but it says people in trouble need to see help earlier if they get into money troubles.

The cost of a new mortgage is already showing signs of edging up, despite the Bank of England base rate remaining unchanged at 0.5%.

Anyone looking to get a mortgage will have to have their finances scrutinised more closely from tomorrow under new rules , meaning some may find it harder to get a mortgage.

Up to 300,000 homeowners who bought a property in a "disadvantaged" area over the past decade could reclaim up to £1,500 in stamp duty, MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal. But the deadline to claim is 5 May so take urgent action.

Around 34,000 mortgage borrowers are to share out £8.4 million in refunds after Yorkshire Building Society admitted wrongly charging customers who had fallen behind with repayments.

If you've been hit by the floods and are struggling with emergency costs and mortgage payments, you may be able to get help after leading banks announced support measures.

Unemployment has fallen to 7.1% – within touching distance of the figure which will be used to decide whether interest rates will increase, official data has revealed.

Payday loan firms including Wonga are to start using a new "real-time" information sharing service about consumers' borrowing habits.

UK house prices rose by 7.5% during 2013, but fell month-on-month in December for the first time in almost a year, Halifax has reported.

House prices rose by 8.4% over 2013 across the UK, the biggest annual increase in prices since June 2010, Nationwide has reported.