Special Speech

Just as there are many types of mortgages and mortgage deals to choose from, there are also many sources where you can go to get a mortgage. Your key choices are to use a mortgage broker, a more general financial adviser, or shop around yourself and go direct to the mortgage lender. For many people, choosing a lender means finding a mortgage company offering the lowest APR rate.

If you decide to use an adviser you can choose between a specialist mortgage broker and a general financial adviser. A general adviser will look at all your financial affairs if you want, not just your mortgage. As opposed to lenders who can only offer their own products, an adviser can look at the whole market for you and consider mortgages from a number of lenders. Advisers can also offer you advice and information tailored to your needs. In the UK, All firms or Individuals arranging or advising on mortgages must be authorised to do so by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). If you are unhappy with advice from an authorised firm you usually have the right to complain and may be able to claim compensation.

As an alternative to using a financial adviser, you can arrange a mortgage directly with a lender - like a building society, bank or specialist mortgage company. A lender will only recommend their own mortgage products although they may have several you can choose from.

When choosing a lender, you should consider the competitiveness of the lender’s rates, their fees and penalties, their customer service and their reputation. You’ll also want a lender you can trust, and someone you can work with effectively. Remember you’ll have to deal with this company for many years to come.

1. Building Societies
Building societies are mortgage experts, they offer specialist advice and they usually offer very competitive rates. Many national ones have a branch in most major towns and cities while the smaller ones tend to specialise in catering for home buyers in particular areas. For example, the Cambridge Building Society specializes in helping people who live in Cambridgeshire.

2. High Street Banks
Banks usually have years of lending experience and they have more branches and greater coverage across the United Kingdom. Their standard rates tend to be higher than those of building societies but they often offer the best introductory offers on mortgage deals. Some of the big banks now have special arrangements with building societies where the building society is the one that handles all the mortgage business for the bank.

3. Specialist Mortgage Lending Companies
Specialist lenders lend to a particular type of niche market. Many of these specialise in providing mortgages for people in special circumstances who would not normally be offered a loan by their bank or building society. This includes people with adverse credit, the self-employed, part-time employed and those purchasing overseas properties. Many mainstream lenders have established specialist subsidiaries for non-standard mortgages such as these. You may have to deal with them over the phone, by mail or over the internet as most of them do not have a wide network of branches across the country.

4. Insurance Companies
Some insurance companies offer mortgages and other financial products together with their range of insurance products. They may sometimes offer certain deals in association with other financial institutions such as banks but they do not specialise in this area and they may not necessarily offer the best rates.

5. Intermediaries and Mortgage Brokers
Instead of going directly to the lender for a mortgage, you can approach an advisor or broker to search the market for the best mortgage deal for you. Some intermediaries are tied to particular lenders and they may only offer products from their lender. Others are independent so they have a much wider market to choose from. A credit broker is a firm or person who introduces you to a lender for the purpose of borrowing money. The task of the credit broker is to obtain the loan you require on terms that are acceptable to you.

Whatever you decide, it’s important to understand how mortgages are regulated and sold in the United Kingdom. Buying with advice puts you in a stronger position to complain and get compensation if you later discover that the mortgage is unsuitable. You can read some more articles about mortgages at: http://www.commercial-mortgage-guide.org.uk/mortgages/

© Copyright 2005, Bwalya Mwaba writes for the The Commercial Mortgage Guide. Visit our website for mortgage related news, articles, tools and more: http://www.commercial-mortgage-guide.org.uk/.

This article may be reprinted as long as all the above links are active and clickable and this author box (byline) is not edited.

If you are wondering how to diet for lean muscle gains, the most important thing that you should keep in mind is that you should reduce your intake of fatty foods. This is not possible to do entirely, but if you are eating a lot of highly fatty foods, you should reduce them to be no more than 20% of your daily caloric intake. We also recommend that you limit your selection to healthy unsaturated fats. It is also interesting to note that people who severely restrict their fat intake (below the 20% mark) will not look healthy; their hair will be brittle, their skin will be dry and they tend to have terrible mood swings and be very ill-tempered.

You should also cut out any empty carbohydrates as well - for instance, foods that are very high in sugar but lack nutrients, such as cookies, candy bars and other highly processed foods. This will make you feel more healthy overall, give you more energy and it will also enable you to get the nutrients that you will need to build muscle.

We recommend that you keep a food diary for one week and then review your typical caloric intake during one week. Then reduce the calories by 15% in order to lose fat. If you’re interested in gaining lean muscle, however, you will need to increase your calories by 15% - BUT you MUST divide all your food amongst six small meals per day in order to have the food convert to muscle rather than fat. North America’s habit of eating 2 or 3 large meals per day causes our bodies to act in the “feast or famine” mode of our early ancestors and thus causes our body to naturally store energy as fat. When you start to distribute your daily food intake between five to six meals a day it relieves the “feast or famine” program that your body has and your body will lose more fat, thus food will be converted into muscle gain.

Eat Natural and Organic Foods That Are Low Glycemic

When it comes to how to diet for lean muscle gain, some people swear by already-formulated foods and meal replacements. While those can help you sometimes - especially by helping you get enough protein in your diet - they are not the best option for you. If you are trying to gain muscle, then you should make sure that you’re eating healthy foods - which generally means that you are cooking the food yourself from scratch with raw ingredients.

The best lean muscle gaining diets for are similar to low carb diets, though less extreme. (You will still need carbohydrates so that you have enough energy to exercise). You should put a lot of emphasis on foods that are high in protein, like meat (such as skinless chicken breasts and lean beef), nuts, and some legumes, as well as on vegetables. The high protein foods will give your body the protein that it needs to build muscle mass, while the vegetables will give you the nutrients and fiber that will keep you healthy. With this diet, you will have everything you need to build the muscles that you want - but you won’t be eating too much, either.

It is also important to remember that low glycemic foods tend to be the healthiest food choice. The Glycemic Index is a measure of how much your blood sugar (glucose) rises after eating carbohydrate foods. High glycemic foods cause a surge in blood sugar, thus increasing insulin, and you will get hungrier sooner. Thus, you will be tempted to overeat.

High Glycemic foods are most grains and grain products (both whole wheat and white), cookies, candies, candy bars, breakfast cereals, grain based snack foods such as taco chips, corn, potatoes (these are highly starchy foods), bananas, most dried fruits and tropical fruits (tropical fruits tend to be sweeter than non-tropical fruits), fruit juices, honey and table sugar.

Low Glycemic foods are legumes (lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, and most other beans), many fruits such as cherries, blackberries and most other berries, plums, peaches and grapes, dairy products such as milk, yogurt and kefir, non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, Swiss chard, bok choy, lettuce, celery and kale.

If you follow these guidelines will be on your way to a stronger, leaner body and you will enjoy all the other side benefits of losing fat: more strength, increased energy, more endurance, a smaller waistline, visibly sexier abs and better health!

Julia Mahler is a successful author & the publisher of a1-weight-lifting-equipment.com. She has studied & participated in fitness & natural nutrition for over 22 yrs. Her passion is women’s fitness & teaching on nutrition & strength training.