Egg
History
Egg is another relative newbie in the financial world being launched in 1998. It is strictly and online financial services provider; therefore they do not offer any in person branch banking services. Originally it was a division of Prudential and then relaunced as Egg and as UK's first internet bank.
In June 2000, Egg plc listed on the London Stock Exchange and Prudential plc is the largest shareholder with 79% of its shares. Egg is the parent company of a number of companies making up the Egg group, all of which trade under the name "Egg".
Egg was launched in France in 2002, however the services never became popular and the operation was closed and sold to ING of the Netherlands.
Prudential decided to then sell off all their interests, but that didn't materialize right away, so the company was delisted. However, in May 2007 Prudential sold Egg to Citigroup and in November there was a considerable shake up of employees.
Its headquarters are in Derby and London, England and they specialize in savings, credit cards and loans and insurance. It currently services over 3.6 million online customers.
Remortgages offered through Egg
Egg has two types of mortgage. Choose to take advantage of a 2 year fixed rate deal or a six month discount mortgage. You can also offset either option against the money you have in and Egg savings account. When you choose an offset option you only pay interest on the difference between your savings and the remainder of the mortgage balance. This could help you to pay off your mortgage early.
Fixed rate - even if interest rates rise during the fixed period (2 years) your rate will stay the same. When the fixed period is finished your interest rate will be set at a variable rate above the Bank of England Base rate. You can choose the saver option to offset your main mortgage account against your savings. Take payment breaks or pay off early by choosing either the flexi or saver options. You can make overpayments of up to 10% (of your mortgage) during the fixed rate period. Once the fixed rate period has finished there are no limits on overpayment. Interest is calculated daily.
Discount rate - your mortgage is set at a variable discount rate (for the first six months). Once the discount period is over the mortgage will revert to a variable rate set above the Bank of England Base rate. You can choose the saver option to offset your main mortgage account with your savings. You can choose the flexi option and take payment breaks. There are no limits on overpayments.
You can also "top up" your mortgage with Egg if you want a little more cash for home improvements, like an extension or a new kitchen. Both types of mortgage listed above have this option available with rates set according to which type of product you choose. They both revert to a variable rate set above the Bank of England base rate.