Lender to offer Hips

Posted: 29 Jun 2006 14:34:10 GMT

Nationwide has been the first lender to announce that it will provide home information packs (Hips), according to the Daily Mail.

Hips become mandatory for home buyers from June of next year and it is hoped they will make the home buying process more efficient and result in a reduction of the third of transactions that never reach completion.

A spokesperson for Nationwide said that the company had not yet decided on prices but insisted that customers would have a wide range of payment options open to them.

The majority of other main lenders are expected to also offer Hips to their customers, either using their own brand or with the help of a partner.

Some smaller firms are already offering Hips, with OpenBookHip providing them from between £560 and £1,200.

"Our failure rate is less than two per cent - it was 27 per cent before we started to offer the packs," Maria Coleman, the firm's chief executive told the publication.


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