Halifax latest to reprice mortgages

By Jennifer Hill, Personal Finance Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - Mortgage lender Halifax is poised to re-price its mortgage range amid the ongoing fallout from the credit crunch.

The banking giant plans to cut the cost of some of its deals, while hiking fixed rates for those without a sizeable deposit.

The changes, unveiled in a note sent to mortgage brokers on Wednesday, will come into force on Friday.

"As a major mortgage provider, Halifax continues to focus on delivering good value products and rewarding customers for prudency," said a spokeswoman for Britain's biggest mortgage lender, part of HBOS HBOS.L.

She declined to give further details ahead of the changes, but sources familiar with the situation said rates on a string of deals would come down by an average 0.35 percent, while two fixed rates would rise by 0.10 percent.

The move is just the latest in a string of rate changes among lenders as they vie to navigate liquidity problems and attract less risky customers.

Thousands of mortgage products have been withdrawn from the UK market since the credit crunch took hold earlier this year. Lenders have scrapped cheap fixed-rate deals, introduced higher-rate products, cut the maximum amount people can borrow in relation to the value of the property and tightened their criteria.

But, more recently, lenders have lowered some rates as they try to boost competitiveness and increase market share in the face of the credit crisis that has seen the mortgage market shrink considerably.