MORTGAGES

Lloyds Bank has launched its Help to Buy mortgage products, which will allow homebuyers to access a mortgage with a deposit of as little as 5%.

The product rates, available up to a maximum loan to value of 95%, include a 2 year fixed rate of 5.19% with a £995 fee, for homebuyers with a Lloyds Bank current account.

First Time Buyers and home-movers will be able to apply for Help to Buy mortgages in branches from Friday 3 January.

CREDIT CARDS AND LOANS

Santander has launched a new credit card with an interest-free deal lasting 18 months (18.9% after introductory offer).

The card also comes with nine months interest-free on balance transfers. Customers will be charged a 3% transfer fee and no annual fee.

Sainsbury’s Bank has launched a new Sainsbury’s Nectar Credit Card exclusively through MoneySupermaket. 

The card is offering 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months (from account opening), and for those who transfer a balance from another card within six weeks of opening the account, Sainsbury’s Bank will refund the 3% balance transfer fee in Nectar points. Cardholders will be eligible to make as many transfers to their Sainsbury’s Nectar Credit Card as they wish, up to 95% of their credit limit.

Cardholders will also receive double Nectar points on their Sainsbury’s shopping, and two Nectar points per £1 spent on Sainsbury’s fuel (with an additional one point per litre when customers also swipe their Nectar card).

M&S Bank has launched a personal loan with a rate of 4.7% APR (representative) on loans between £7,500 and £15,000, available exclusively for existing M&S current account, credit card and loan customers.

New customers will be able to take advantage of a rate of 4.8% APR (representative) for loans of the same value (£7,500 to£15,000).

Existing M&S Bank customers are also being offered exclusive rates of 6.1% APR for loans between £5,000 and £7,499 and 6.7% APR on loans between £15,001 and £25,000.

INVESTMENTS

The Post Office has re-launched its online bond, with rates of up to 2.37% gross/AER fixed.

The new rates and terms are: 1 year – 1.82% gross AER fixed, 2 year – 2.27% gross/AER fixed and 3 year at 2.37% gross/AER fixed.

Exchange traded fund issuer, Source, has listed a physically replicated Chinese A-Share ETF on the London Stock Exchange.

Interested investors can get more information here.

PET INSURANCE

The Co-operative Pet Insurance has announced that for a limited time all new pet insurance customers will benefit from a 25% discount online.

The 25% discount offer is available online and begins on 2nd January and ends on 28th February 2014.