our fix ends early october and santander have written to tell us we’ll be moving onto SVR which i believe is never a good idea.

i read that rates are likely to go up in august, so i assume if i choose a new santander deal theyll probs stick us on it now, but im wary of doing that in case theres better elsewhere.

we owe around £50,000 still, maybe another 10 yrs worth on what our current deal is.

ideally i’d like another fix so we know where we are, but as the amount we owe gets lower, i probably wouldnt mind the opportunity for overpayments if possible, try and get the mortgage to end sooner.

is it still a minefield out there and we really need a broker/IFA or is there a no-brainer out there that suits us?

thanks

Doubt it, UK economy on the ropes for the next decade or two thanks to Brexit.

I’m with santander and you can start the process up to 4 months before. So you might want to start now and lock in the deal with August just in case. You can do it all online https://mortgage.santander.co.uk/Default.aspx

I can’t do mine until at least January, so hoping things remain the same until then!!!!

Last I looked there were fixes (5 year from Coventry BS) which allowed unlimited overpayments at the expense of a less competitive interest rate. Having spoken to a broker I was told that I was ineligible for that one as I hadn’t lived in the UK for the whole of the last 5 years. That for me is the value of a broker – they can save you time and black marks on the credit record applying for things that you can’t get on a technicality. There are good fee-free ones around.

IIRC you can usually get a new deal agreed from anywhere, not just your current provider, 3 months in advance of the mortgage renewal and they will honour it even if rates go up in the meantime.

We’ve just renewed with the Yorkshire, and moved onto an offset mortgage. We upped our payments by about £150 a month and can commit about £25k into the linked current account that was earning a pittance in various ISAs and savings accounts. The move has cut our 200k mortgage from 20 years to 15, and there are no overpayment limits.

My 2p – at some point it’s going to, it can’t really go down.

At the moment things are ‘challenging’ and possibly as bad as it will get – unless we really shoot our selves in the head twice by crashing out of the EU, but a decent deal or a whiff of a ‘peoples vote’ and things will change rapidly and people have short memories.

For me it’s about risk to reward, a very prudent old colleague of mine once bought a full-term fixed mortgage at 5% or so, he figured he could afford the repayments, and more importantly he could afford to keep paying 5% even if the base rate was lower, far more than he could afford it at 15% if things ever got bad, his friends thought he was mad – then the 80s happened.

Forget if you can about the last 2 years, or even the last 10, we went through the longest, hardest in-everything-but-name recession in history, but until CMD thought he could put UKIP to bed for good, we were well into recovery. The BOE warned of higher rates to come in Feb, even with all this bullshit going on, and even as hard as things have been – they still consider the ‘new normal’ to be 3.5% (instead of 5%)

One way or other we’ll resolve this EU thing in the next year, either Westminster will **** us all trying to **** each other and rates will stay the same (okay they might fall a symbolic .25%) in which you’ll ‘lose’ a tiny bit, or, freed from the worry of Brexit the economy will return to normal growth, or even go for the traditional post-recession boom and you could ‘lose’ a lot more by being on the wrong side of the fence.

First there are almost definitely better deals available elsewhere than any “existing customer” offer from Santander….. “New customer” offers are better to entice you to change provider*

But take Santander best deal, at the fixed term of your choice, and compare it to the results of your “best X year fixed mortgage” search on google…..  just make sure to take into account the set up fee payable as well as the headline % rate.

There are loads of fixed rate deals that let you over pay up 10% of the mortgage a year .. in fact most do.

* I hate all the faff of mortgage applications and very nearly didn’t change provider recently, but the saving to change was just too much (into the thousands over the course of the fixed period). In the end the swapping of providers was pretty simple and by far the largest money made on “household saving” all year.

Good luck

One way or other we’ll resolve this EU thing in the next year

I’d have thought they’ll just agree a deferment at the last minute and kick the can down the road for another two years…….

we owe around £50,000 still, maybe another 10 yrs worth on what our current deal is.

You can get reasonable 10 year fixed rates, so you could just fix for the last time…….

I am just moving onto the Coventry 5 year fix mentioned up there – already set up for a start date of 1 October (signed the mortgage deed yesterday).  The interest rate might not be super low but it’s way lower than my previous fix/the SVR I’d move on to, and my circumstances mean that I am in a position to make decent overpayments (I’m waiting for a probate house to sell and will then get a share of the proceeds, so I know that I should be able to pay about 50% of the new mortgage off within the next year).  That means that although I’ve technically taken it out over 10 years (with 5 of them at a fixed rate) I should be able to pay it off before the deal runs out.

HSBC let me lock a rate 6 months in advance by paying the booking fee.  Echo what others have said about switching providers.  Bear in mind that “fee free” advisors are really “mortgage company pays the fee” which means that they may not be able to get you some of the best deals and/or the amount of commission may influence their advice.

I’d start off by looking at compare the market or similar to find out what rates are available.  I use a spreadsheet to calculate the total cost of the mortgage including booking fees over the initial term.  I would have thought that on an amount of £50k you’ll want the deals with low or no fees, but it’s worth doing the sums.

I have to say that my last remortgage was really quite painless, with all necessary documentation being provided electronically.

Try L&C online, it’s free and much better deals than my Santander remortgage offers.

Fixed rate mortgages usually have buy in fees and usually at higher interest rates, so when interest rates go up….and they will, assuming they will creep up very slowly…a quarter of a percent every now and again,  it still might take some time (years) for the variable rate to catch up with fixed rates and overtake them long enough for the fixed rate plus fees to have been beneficial, so fixing in now might not be your most cost effective option. Ultimately the interest rate you pay is irrelevant..it’s all about the total you pay back, and cashing in on the low interest rates while they last might be more beneficial to fixing in now at a higher interest rate that might take a couple of years for the variable rate to catch up and overtake. If you are within that 10year window and if I were you then I’d be inclined to look closely at the lowest rate variable or discount rate deals that don’t charge a buy-in fee and take a punt.

hmmmm interesting, thank you very much.

ill follow up on all the advice and links over the next day or so, including wobbliscotts ‘non-fix’ advice which i hadnt really considered but definitely worth looking at.

cheers

I’ve been non fixed on a base rate tracker for 12 years, I’m not saying it’s right for everyone, or that it will continue to, but we’ve consistently beat fixed rates the whole time.

how tight are your finances. I’m on a nationwide BMR (base + 2%) rate (have been for nearly 8 yrs now). The last quarter point rise cost me a whole extra £17 a month.

just filled in all my details on L&C.  painfully slooooooow but done now.  apparently they need to ring me later tho so no results to look at yet.

how tight are your finances.

not too tight at the moment im pleased to say.  thats why id like the flexibilty of chucking spare cash at it to end it early.

Not really advice as such, but I wholeheartedly recommend L&C – used them for my last 3/4 remortgages

I’m remortgaging to First Direct at the moment (5 year fixed, 1.94%, no fee – there’s a 1.84% option with a fee but the amount I’m borrowing doesn’t make it worth it). They weren’t the cheapest but I prefer someone with good online facilities – however it’s taking forever, 8 weeks so far (despite it being less then 50% LTV and their mortgage adviser approving it in principle after the first week). I’m about to kick off…

Fixed vs tracker is always a gamble, although rates are due to rise slightly there’s also an argument that if the economy tanks after Brexit they’ll drop rates again to stimulate growth. Personally though I just wanted to know what my payments would be for the next 5 years so don’t mind if it ends up me paying a bit more over that period than I would have done on a tracker. They allow over-payments to but realistically I’m not that financially sound-minded and usually blow any extra cash on shiny things I don’t need.

just spoken to L&C on the phone and theyve sent me a follow up email message.  they say i have to choose one of the options below before they can fine tune it with other offers, so i cant have lots of different choices.  bit confused by that, i assume that the below are the best in each class.

As discussed please see below the deal for a 2yr Fixed, 5yr Fixed and a 2yr variable deal with no exit fees.

–        2 yrs Fixed | 2.59% | £750.55 | £0.00 book | £0.00 arrange | £0.00 val | £1000.00 CB | 10% p/a overpay |

–        5 yrs Fixed | 2.15% | £740.82 | £0.00 book | £0.00 arrange | £0.00 val | £200.00 CB | 10% p/a overpay |

–        2 yrs Variable| 1.59% | £728.56 | £0.00 book | £0.00 arrange | £0.00 val | £500.00 CB | No Early repayment charge

gut feeling is then that the 3rd option may be best for us, bit cheaper and i can overpay to hearts desire i think?  £200 more pm than we pay now tho, so the overpayment thing may not be applicable, i spose we’re ‘overpaying’ now to end it earlier than before.  think our current deal thats ending now is a fix at 3.19% so i must admit i was sort of hoping that we’d find a deal cheaper per month AND also ending earlier 🙂

thanks for your thoughts……

With 10 years left I think I’d fix on a 10 year deal. Coventry at 2.39 or HSBC at 2.49. Job jobbed.

i think it comes down to do you worry about being on the best deal or do you want the fixed payments. Forget about everything else.

With 10 years left I think I’d fix on a 10 year deal. Coventry at 2.39 or HSBC at 2.49. Job jobbed.

sorry, forgot to mention why im going for a shorter term…….

im in a physical job that will be difficult for me to work past 60, my pension is based on me retiring at 60, im 53 now, thats why ive tried to shorten the term.

thanks

That’s the mad financial world we live in … 2 year fixed is more expensive than the 5 year fix.

To me the 5 year is the one to go for …. Only £12.26 a month or £294.24 more expensive than the variable over the two years… But you know your payments until two years before retirement, which will be helpful in the planning for that ??

Oh … not taken into account cash back … but you may find that isn’t as it sounds and is used for solicitors ??

Anyone looked at Hanley Economic Building Society for a remortgage?

They keep popping up on re-mortgage searches for me with very nice rates and terms for my LTV rate

Holy thread Hijack .. can i jump in on this to get some feedback as my fixed term is due to end Dec 18 and sadly I don’t really have anyone to talk to about this type of thing ..

Purchased 265k Apr 17 with 2 Year Fixed through Coventry on 25 year term

MIP Dec 16 Repayments 1065 PCM which is about 1/3rd of take home including Commission after pension deductions and about 45% of my total outgoings

I have put 20k into renovating and still have another 5k or so to go and the area has appreciated so hope to realize 280k as value and will have 225k Remaining balance giving around 80% LTV

My job is as stable as I guess we can all hope for and should get a significant increase in basic salary Jan 19.

I am however at present holding no cash reserves due to purchase and refurb which is a massive concern.

Was looking at 5 year fixed 2.19% but extending term back to 25 years which would reduce repayment to around £950 .. My intention is to finish renovating / pay of credit accounts (2k) By December and then focus on putting 10k away for a rainy day by latest July 2020 and then focus on making over-payments (10% of remaining balance allowed) to reduce balance of mortgage before reviewing.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

FuzzyWuzzy, any idea why FD are taking so long with your application? Do you get the feeling that all their applicants will have the same experience? Was about to re-mortgage with them, as about to move, and assumed they’d be quick. I’m already a customer etc.

@urbanhiker – I had a text last week apologising for delays due to increased demand (although First Direct taking ages seems to be a common complaint about them, I’m not moving house just remortgaging and borrowing a bit extra for home improvements so wasn’t put off by the taking ages comments but it’s getting annoying now!).

When I last spoke to them (over 2 weeks ago) I was told their underwriters had approved so all that was left was for them to get a final balance from my current provider + me sign and return one last agreement thing. Possibly it’s my current provider (Halifax) delaying things now as I guess they don’t have much incentive.

The weeks before that were mostly just going through FD’s standard process (initial 1 hour-ish phone call then took a week for me to get everything uploaded as evidence as was a pain getting my bank statement sorted but that’s another story). After that things moved quickly, had a phone meeting (2 hours-ish) with their adviser 2 or 3 days after all my docs had been uploaded. Then about a week later I was asked to upload proof of address and then it all went quiet apart being told it had all been approved a couple of weeks back.

Can’t see rates going up at all …

Researchers at the ONS said the situation was worse than at any time on record after the £25bn deficit last year surpassed the £300m deficit recorded in 1988. British household finances also slumped from being among the most solvent in the 1990s to being among the most indebted compared with households in other major western countries.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jul/26/household-debt-in-uk-worse-than-at-any-time-on-record

I’d take that five year fix, it’s a great deal, pushes you past the next few months* (*years) of uncertainty.

if you really want to overpay, 10% every month will quickly reduce your term since all of your overpayment goes against capital. Plus, if you really have more to overpay then bank the rest, earn more than 2.15% allowing for tax, and pay it off in five years, you’ll finish even sooner!

Rather than make overpayments on the mortgage you may want to consider putting that amount into a stocks and shares ISA or pension AVCs.  All depends on your attitude to risk, tax situation, age, etc.

In a similar position with our mortgage due for renewal in October/November.

Have been on a variable at 1.84 above BOE base rate for our first (2yr) mortgage.

Will probably opt for another variable for 2yrs. Seem to be able to get around 1% +base rate. Which is cheaper than can get fixed.

considering the monthly payment dropped by £20 when the rate went up (as based on total owed then rather than original borrowed) not too worried by a similar change.

But as said elsewhere, worth considering if you can get more in investing/saving than you do in overpayment. Better to put aside for the same time then pay off (and keep the interest earned)

first direct took ages for us 18 months ago.  caused a bunch of stress can’t remember total elapsed time but it was somewhere around 8-10 weeks I think more nut don’t want to over worry people.

stuff went to underwriters, more documentation was requested went to the back of the queue, stuff requested again as other docs had been lost / missing.

reducing the sale.price.by £1k (so a smaller mortgage….) required another trip round the underwriter loop and delayed the sale a week.

everything is fine once we were in, they just take their money.

‘re OP I would fix for as long as you can unless.you.think you may move / loose job etc…

we are currently on a 5yr at 3.18.  when we took that out 18 months ago  rates couldn’t get any cheaper and they were going up soon.  they didn’t and they’ve got marginally cheaper.  so ignore that and focus on what you can afford.  for us it’s when the kids hit school and I stop paying £1k pcm in nursery fees

Yorkshire Bank have some good offers

https://secure.ybonline.co.uk/personal/mortgages/all-our-mortgages/

On a Nationwide Tracker. No penalties for overpaying or changing at any time.

Every now and again we restart it and get £250/100 cash back.

Base rate + 1.09

Not a fixed but given current circumstances we have been on this three years and it’s virtually unmoved. I think it will carry on that way for a while.

We had that .25% blip but it really didn’t make much difference, it’s not as if things are going to suddenly shoot up 5%.

Someone somewhere predicts an interest rate rise every month. It will happen at some point.

update…….

1.   L&C have said the best they can find for us is a 2.15% 5 yr fix from barclays and theyre going to push ahead for the application.  itll add around £130 or so to our present monthly payments as we’re going for a 7yr term now instead of 10, to finish when im 60.  sound about right?

2.   quick question re insurance……… L&C said theyd look into my present life/critical illness cover.  its currently £27 pm for next 10yrs.  as we’re shortening the term, it probably needs sorting.  theyve come back and said best they can find for £50,000 cover over 7 yrs is £43 pm.

as we took out an extension a few yrs back for a er…. extension, the cover in 2018 is less than projected (by around £20,000, the cost of the extension).  no problem with that i understand it.  but, if its a £20,000 short payout, we have 3 options in my mind…..

cancel present policy and pay the new £43 pm for 7 yrs cover.

let the current policy run at £27 pm knowing that itll pay short if we need it.

cancel the policy, save £43 pm and gamble on good health for 7 yrs.

L&C have advised against this, i can see why.  they say that would mean all our previous payments would then be dead money.  not sure i agree with that way of thinking, but theyre probably still right its not the right thing to do.  opinions please?

thanks

Nationwide do better rates than that.  I found there customer services to be very good also.  There overpayment plan is pretty good – allows you to overpay, then if there is a disaster use the amount to supplement you monthly payments.

We were holding 6 months payments in an ISA in case of redundancy, instead I paid it off the mortgage, saved 1.5x the amount in interest and reduced the term by 8 months, yet still have a six months buffer I could use if necessary.

We were holding 6 months payments in an ISA in case of redundancy, instead I paid it off the mortgage, saved 1.5x the amount in interest and reduced the term by 8 months, yet still have a six months buffer I could use if necessary.

Can you still get offset savings accounts? I used to have one with Virgin (10 years ago) and when the savings account exceeded the outstanding mortgage, I just paid of off and closed the mortgage account. Meant I still have a buffer in case of redundancy etc, but paid reduced interest on the debt.

do you definitely not get any death in service (or similar) benefits from work which could cover a shortfall?

if the current mortgage is shortened (70k over 7 years), and the current policy is diminishing, and currently for 50k, but will finish in 10 years, at some point (4 years time – roughly) it would pay out more than you owe.

I, personally, would be happy with the risk, but its up to you.

Nationwide do better rates than that.

just had a look, like for like with a 5 yr fix is a worse rate (2.29).  if i look at other options such as 3 yr fix, trackers etc there only seems to be about a tenner a month difference, so it seems to make more sense to just go with the longer fix……

Can you still get offset savings accounts?

dont know mate, and im not financially savvy enough to understand them or know if theyre a good idea for me.  would i in effect always have a large overdraft that im slowly settling?  would it be cheaper than a 5 yr fix?  is there a line where it becomes a good/bad idea?  as mentioned before, im looking at £50,000 over 7 yrs, so id take whatever made best sense.

thanks

EDIT:

do you definitely not get any death in service (or similar) benefits from work which could cover a shortfall?

hmmm thats a good point, fire service so my jobs pretty secure id say, at least for the next 7 years.  altho thats just death, a critical illness that forced me to stop work would scupper me.

I’ve had a text saying my First Direct mortgage should complete tomorrow. 10 frickin weeks and I’m not even changing house! This is one time I’m actually hoping for a survey on how they did so I can have a rant…