We’ve come off our fixed rate & onto variable, so currently looking around for another fixed.

Using the Money Super Market website to trawl through the products.

Comparing the Initial Term Cost, Fees, Initial Rate, APRC, Total interest paid, Total paid = one way of figuring out what is best for us us surely the Total Amount Payable (inc fees & costs)? No????

I appreciate there are other variables to suit circumstances, but the bottom line is to borrow the money & pay back as little as possible???

We waited a week for an appointment with a mortgage advisor at the building society we thought we may use, but he couldn’t authorise anything, made silly errors and just gave us the number of an adult to speak to……

Any other web sites that i should be looking at? I’m thinking of just number crunching online in order to choose our product & then arrange over the phone.

Thanks.

Find a local independant mortgage advisor and get them to do all this (they get their fee as a commission from the lendor).

Also, next time, start looking well before your fixed rate ends. I assume you’re now paying a higher rate, which is just money wasted. It’s possible to line it all up to switch to a new lendor the day the fixed rate ends.

Nah – total amount payable includes the remaining years outside of the fixed rate at the lenders current SVR, which is a load of bollocks.

What you want to focus on (and will probably have to calculate) is the cost for the period of the fixed rate.

In your situation it might be worth talking to a mortgage broker, we used one for our last remortgage as my wife had starting contracting in the last 12 months so didn’t have the required accounts history for most lenders.

Yeah if you’re going onto a fixed rate you need to work out what you’ll be repaying over that fixed rate term, with the assumption being you’ll move to another deal at the end of that term (so the whole repayment cost is irrelevant). When I moved to a First Direct 5 year fixed they had two options, one with a fee and one without (but with a slightly higher interest rate). As I wasn’t borrowing much it was simple to work out that I’d pay less over the 5 years by going with the no fee + higher rate than paying the fee upfront.

Its a gamble on what will happen to interest rates. If you think they will go up then a fixed rate, if you think they wil remain the same then variable rate.

I have a variable rate mortgage – its much cheaper than a fixed one.

As above, independent mortgage advisor. They have access to every product on the market. Also as above you should be doung this 3 month’s before end of current term as you will certainly be paying more than you should right now. Before you go, do a basic affordability calc, literally incomings and outgoings, this can make life easier when with the advisor as he will know where you’re at. Get a rough valuation of your house, your current ltv can then be worked off this. Better equity equals better rates. And finally decide what you’re doing, if the mortgage isn’t massive and you’re happy where you are could you say afford a 10 year fixed and get it paid of without another remortgage?

independent mortgage advisor or check out HSBC/first direct rates [the rates are rock bottom [60% LTV] 1.79% 5 year fix no fee or 1.59% £999 fee at the moment]

Considering what term to pay over and whether to pay a fee for a lower rate, if you have a low mortgage then the higher rate will usually be better, calculate the difference or use online mortgage calcs.

if you want a lower payment per month, go longer term on the mortgage.

This spreadsheet is handy for comparing deals. For example it allows you to easily compare different rate mortgages with differing admin/set-up costs.

The last time I went to a mortgage adviser the best rate they were able to find was no better than a regular high street bank (Yorkshire Building Society) but with the disadvantage of having to pay them a fee and the lender didn’t have any high street presence and would be hard to get a hold of. The adviser was mainly pushing us to borrow more than we needed!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1157173

Do two things:

1. Read a MoneySavingExpert guide to mortgages, they are really good and help you understand the whole mortgage area without getting too detailed.

2. Get a local IFA to do the hard work for you. They will do it quicker, easier and probably with a better deal for you.

Where do you live? Quite likely someone on here can recommend someone for you.

but the bottom line is to borrow the money & pay back as little as possible???

The bottom line is to borrow the money and pay it back as soon as possible. So, get the one that has the lowest amount to pay back over the fixed term (so total all the monthly payments over the fixed term and add in any set-up fees), then overpay as much as you can each month.

then overpay as much as you can each month

I’d disagree with that. Usually good advice but with interest rates so low the money can usually be better used elsewhere.

the money can usually be better used elsewhere.

It can, but not (generally) without risk – few cash savings options will pay a higher interest rate than one charged on a mortgage.

So then you’re looking at Stocks and Shares ISAs or similar, which bring a level of risk and, for the uninitiated, a whole new plethora of questions. For the financially uninformed or uninterested (which many people are), overpaying a mortgage is the simple, no-loss, no-brainer option.

For the financially uninformed or uninterested (which many people are), overpaying a mortgage is the simple, no-loss, no-brainer option.

That’ll be me. I just couldn’t be arsed with keeping track of something I wasnt sure about in the first place. So I’m overpaying at the moment but that will all stop once the daughter heads off to uni. In fact I’ll probably have to remortgage 😂

As above, concentrate on the fixed term period, i.e. the first two or three years. The obvious goal is as low an interest rate as possible, within whatever constraints you choose (fixed or tracker etc). Chopping and changing every two/three/five years is definitely the smart move.

Our first mortgage was through an IFA. He was quite helpful.

Next one was self selected, as was the remortgage following that. The next remortgage along was simply moving to a different deal from the same lender, as (a) they were already close to the best deal and (b) it was very simple to do, as in, log in to website and hit “accept deal”.

YMMV!

The obvious goal is as low an interest rate as possible

within reason, but keep an eye on the fees – they’ve been on the rise in the last few years and so regularly hit a grand. If you’re paying off £50k over a 2 year deal (we can dream!), that’s a extra 1% on top of the headline figure – quite the difference when rates are typically well below 1.5%

as usual, MSE has it nailed, set your desired criteria (length of deal etc) then sort by the total cost assessment column

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/best-buys/?utm_expid=.925KQhq7Sd2eQqI6nisOMQ.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.moneysavingexpert.com%2Fmortgages%2F

Indeed. You have to spread the fees over the initial period to do a fair comparison.

And, wait a few days.   The next Bank of England meeting is on the 19th and there is strong talk about an interest rate decrease which may mean some Mortgages will follow.  Next one is after that is 31st October…