First Direct Tops Mortgage Awards

FIRST DIRECT TOPS MORTGAGE AWARDS first direct, the UK's most recommended bank1, has announced a double mortgage coup, by not only winning this year's 'What Mortgage' award for 'Best National Lender over ten years', but by also announcing that applications for their smartmortgage product have topped the £1 billion mark. The prestigious 'What Mortgage' award is given to the lender who consistently offers the best value mortgage product over a ten year period. This is the third consecutive year that first direct has won this award. In addition, first direct has also won the 'Best Centralised Lender over ten years' award. first direct Chief Executive, Alan Hughes said "The awards clearly demonstrate our commitment to offer simple straightforward mortgages that provide excellent value, not just in the short term, but for the lifetime of the mortgage. Our mortgages were extremely competitive before smartmortgage, now they are unrivalled.'' Launched in July 2001, smartmortgage has proved so popular that applications have now reached a total of £1 billion. smartmortgage works by linking a customer's mortgage with their current and saving accounts. This means that the customer pays less interest and can shorten the term of the loan. For more information about smartmortgage, existing customers should call 0845 6100103. New customers should call 0800 242424 or visit www.firstdirect.com/smart ENDS For further press information please contact: Sarah Ring/Emma Radcliffe at first direct on 0113 276 6700 or email sarah.ring@firstdirect.com or emmaradcliffe@firstdirect.com Notes to Editor first direct is a division of HSBC Bank plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. With more than 6,500 offices in 78 countries and territories and assets of US$692 billion at 30 June 2001, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. · The 'What Mortgage' award relates to first direct's Home Buyer variable rate mortgage. · first direct's Home Buyer variable rate mortgage offers customers a highly competitive rate of 4.75% (APR 4.9%). · smartmortgage offers 4.75% (4.9% APR) variable interest that will not be more than 1% above the Bank of England base rate, guaranteed for the life of the loan. This guarantee applies to all smartmortgages opened before 1 January 2003. _______________________________ 1 first direct is the UK's most recommended* bank and has been for the last 8 years. (*MORI December 1993 to June 2001) ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/02/21/20020221BIT00630/bit0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/02/21/20020221BIT00630/bit0001.pdf