Mortgage deals spark rush by owners to lock in best rates

Homeowners took advantage of a spate of mortgage deals released by banks at the end of last year, increasing home borrowing in January to £21.9bn, a year-on-year rise of almost 10%.   Credit card spending also rose last month, by 5.8% compared with a year earlier, according to the UK Finance. Eric Leenders, head of personal finance at the trade body, said that borrowers had taken advantage of interest rate deals. The Independent noted that number of mortgage approvals for UK homebuyers recovered from a four-year low in January. UK Finance, which collects data from British high street banks, reported that there were 40,117 approvals for house purchase in the month, following the slump to just 36,085 in December – the lowest since April 2013. Click here for the full Times article (£) Click here for the full Independent article Click here for the full Guardian article