Remortgaging question - help please!

[Bertieboo1]

We will be remortgaging soon as our fixed rate is ending.

Since we got the mortgage 5 years ago our financial circumstances have changed a lot - I am on maternity leave and my husband is now running his family's company, so classed as self-employed. When I go back to work I am part time and we will have 2 children in nursery for the days I work. We will have to get a mortgage for about 65% ltv and we have been overpaying - don't know if this will make a difference or not.

So - if we want another fixed rate deal with the same bank, will we need to go through the whole application process again? We are worried that we will not have the evidence to prove our income, eg. payslips etc. Otherwise I am assuming we will have to go onto the bank's variable rate?

[Imperialleather2]

If you don't want to borrow any more and want to stay with the same lender then it's not so difficult.
A couple of banks got into trouble a couple of years back for trying to force people to stay on higher cost rates and I think it was the fsa who told them they can't
The lender will gave a value for your house and if your happy with that it's easy
My sister is In a similar situation to you and did hers with the Halifax online and it took about 10 minutes. They are now saving £400 a month.
Their house is probably worth slightly more than the value they were given but couldn't face the hassle so just went with it.

[bearbehind]

My understanding is that if you can arrange a follow on rate/ retention product on the Internet with your current lender ie, you don't speak to an actual person then it's classed as non-advised and you don't need to go through the affordability checks.

If you want to change the term/ amount etc then you pretty much start from scratch which will be a problem based on affordability from what you've posted.

[Bertieboo1]

Thanks so much - that sounds good!

[Bertieboo1]

We don't want to change anything or borrow any more so hopefully that will help. Will have a look online!

[MightyMeerkat]

I did this recently too. Went into the bank where my mortgage is and did a rate change within 15 mins. Very easy and no documents required. Saved a modest £20 a month but it all helps.
For you change banks or want to say borrow more then it would be a remortgage not a rate change. This effectively means a new mortgage application with everything that goes with that.

[MrsPJones]

Ask what the loan to value(LTV) of the deal you are being offered is. If you think you have a lot more equity than your banks computer algorithm, you may be able to get a valuation done to get a better interest rate. Check your banks website and their current rates before you speak to them so you know if they offer you their best rates.

[namechangedtoday15]

Sorry, I don't think that's right (in my limited experience). If you have a fixed rate mortgage, your mortgage deal is that you go onto the SVR at the end of the fixed rate period. If you do not want to do that, then you will switch to another product. Whilst it may not be classed by some lenders as a full remortgage (although I think most do - you are moving on to another product) you will have to meet the eligibility criteria of the new product.

One of the questions that you will undoubtedly be asked as part of the process is whether your circumstances have changed since you originally arranged your mortgage and you'll have to answer yes.

I'm not saying it will be difficult, but I don't think it is a tick box exercise in your circumstances.

[BMW6]

Just before our 1st fixed rate term ended we applied over the phone for a further (longer) fixed rate,, and got it.
DH had changed from being PAYE to self employed during the first term but we weren't asked about any changes in our circs to get the 2nd fixed rate !!!

Hope we haven't done something wrong -twas 4 years ago and since Jan he isn't working at all.......(have pensions so no problem in mortgage repayments)

[WonderingAspie]

BMW, 4 years ago it was a lot different. Since the new rules came in they are very very strict. We applied 2 years ago, the month after the rule change. We were moving but wanted to stay with Nationwide. They were ridiculous on what they were willing to lend even though we paid off our previous mortgage early and the monthly repayments on a new mortgage were considerably less than our old one, which we could easily afford, it didn't matter.

OP, the things that will go against you are child care fees and self employment. I'd be surprised if it wasn't looked into with the stricter rules. We had a credit card each, one with a £66 balance and one with an £88 balance, this went against us in terms of what we could borrow! When we applied again with a different lender, we made sure to pay it off and not spend on it because they could check at any time.