A personal pension may also be referred to as a private pension.

A personal pension is a means by which many people may choose to improve upon their retirement lifestyle by setting up their own personal fund with a pension company

In many cases an individual may have considerable funds locked away in such a pension scheme. Pension Release is the term most commonly used to describe unlocking these funds, or a portion of them, in order to enjoy some of the benefits prior to the time at which the pension comes to fruition.

You can view the Government’s Information Service at The Pension Service - A to Z - Personal pensions

Many people have been advised to lie to buy a house

Industry insiders have described how people have been advised to lie about their incomes to take out loans far bigger than they would usually be granted and with repayments which they can ill afford.

At least 50 percent of UK sub-prime mortgages are self-certification mortgages, knows as ’self cert’ where borrowers state their income and lenders do not necessarily make the necessary checks to validate the submitted information.

A former broker in the industry told BBC Radio 4’s File On 4 that some advisers in the sector tell clients with low incomes to inflate their earnings on application forms to get outsize loans, which they often cannot afford.

Inflating the client’s income is seen as an easy way for brokers to get the deal passed.

One borrower whose real income was £25,000 told the BBC he was advised to double that on his mortgage application and was awarded a loan of more than eight times his salary.

His monthly repayments are such a hug e portion of his salary that he has struggled to make repayments and has now been threatened with repossession.

For those of you with money locked in personal pension schemes which have a long time to go until fruition, Pension Release has long been a method by which you can cash in or unlock money invested and paid into such schemes.

Simply speaking one has but to go to an approved ( by the Finanical Services Authority ( FSA ) - Financial Adviser and ask them to submit your details, following the correct processes to your Pension Scheme Provider.

Sound Financial advice is generally of great benefit to the consumer as many sytems and processes ( particularly in the field of Pension Release ) can be handled to your benefit. Naturally a financial advisor will charge either a flat fee or a percentage for their troubles, but their halp and adice can often increase the amount available for you to withdraw and protect you from tax penalities at the same time.

Casing in your pension or pension release will leave you with a lower residual income upon retirement, but if you are comfortable already there is no reason not to cash in a redundant policy and use the money for your (or your family’s) immediate benefit.

More information on Pension Release is available at Grove Financial Planning : Personal Pension Release

With breaking news across the wires is that following the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that has slashed the base interest rate to 4.75% ( a drop of half a point ), the FTSE gained a 2% rise. The knock on affect of this bold move by the US Reserve will be to apply further pressure on the Bank of England to follow suit and lower the UK interest rates further.

Northern Rock’s share prices were not buoyed by this news, falling a further 10% with the news that the group had been valued by interested parties at under a billion pounds.

Martin Lewis, of consumer Web site MoneySavingExpert.com, said: “People queuing outside Northern Rock to withdraw savings need to calm down.”

He said it was “enormously, unthinkably unlikely” that the bank would go bust.

In that event, savers would be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which pays out up to 31,700 pounds per saver should a company cease trading.

An interesting comment also from Moneysavingexpert was that, any takeover of Northern Rock would lead to two things : ” any new company taking over Northern Rock would have an immediate necessity to strengthen the brand and this could only be accomplished by both cutting interest rates on borrowing and raising rates for savers, both of which should be of great benefit to existing borrowers/ investors.

The market is in flux at the moment that is sure, many people, not just Northern Rock investors are keeping a close eye on market fluctuations as their mortgages are the most important investment they have.

Anyone looking for a useful resource and up to date news on the UK Mortgages should visit clickngomortgages who specialise in bad credit mortgages and first time buyer mortgages , two of the most difficult situations to be in ( bad credit of a first time buyer ) and two areas where changes in the UK Mortgage market can make a huge difference to the lender.