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GMAC have announced a 25-year fixed rate at 5.95% with features not previously available.

It is completely penalty-free after seven years and can be mixed with a penalty-free lifetime tracker at bank base rate plus 0.75%.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is that if borrowers take the whole mortgage on the fixed rate, GMAC will lend up to five times single income or 4.25 times joint, providing they have a 25% deposit.

This will allow many homeowners who couldn't borrow enough to trade up to do so. It will be less useful for first-time buyers as most won't have a 25% deposit.

· Ray Boulger is senior manager of mortgages at Charcoal, tel: 0800 718191