Haverhill Echo: Chamber Chat
By Paul Millar, Ipswich Building Society
Ipswich Building Society, who offer both savings and mortgages, has for many years had a branch based on the High Street in Haverhill. They are also an enthusiastic and active member of the Haverhill Chamber of Commerce.
The Building Societies Association have announced that building societies made over 61,000 mortgages to first time buyers in 2012, up from 36,000 the year before. In the same time, Ipswich Building Society increased its lending to this same group by a healthy 51 per cent.
Despite the bleak weather and uncertain economic outlook, it is possible to find mortgages that only require a 5% deposit and the rates for these are becoming more and more competitive. A look on comparison websites may be helpful, and it is also worth visiting your local building society website or branch to find out about their full mortgage range. However, some building society mortgages are only available to those who live locally and therefore are not listed on the big comparison sites.
As the beginning of April approaches, so does the end of one tax year and the beginning of another. Cash ISAs are now well established with regular savers; in fact those who have always used their ISA allowance since its launch in 1999 will have now accumulated a total of approximately £45,000.
Even for starter savers, a Cash ISA is the best way to get saving. It allows you to save up to £5,640 per tax year and all the returns are tax free, and from 6 April 2013 the allowance will increase by £120 to £5,760. Everyone over the age 16 and resident in the UK is entitled to a Cash ISA. As with mortgages, you can find out more about Cash ISAs via comparison websites or by visiting your building society website or branch.
Children can now also have a Junior ISA, introduced in November 2011, which enables parents to save for their children tax free up to £3,600 per tax year; and, similar to Cash ISAs, from 6 April 2013 the allowance will increase by £120 to £3,720. Just as with mortgages and Cash ISAs, everything you need to know about Junior ISAs will be readily available on comparison websites or your local building society website, or by directly visiting your local branch. Junior ISAs are not available for children who were eligible for the Child Trust Fund, which affects those born between 1st September 2002 and 2nd January 2011.
You can find out more about savings and mortgages at www.ibs.co.uk or visit your local branch in Haverhill High Street.
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Weather for Haverhill
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
