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AIBU?

Getting a mortgage is scary!

32 replies

Deadbydaylight · 14/03/2019 17:51

I know I'm being unreasonable, in a way, but it's scary getting a mortgage.

I've got all of our finances down in an excel spreadsheet, to the penny basically. I know what we can and can't afford. Really, I've taken a mortgage for us that is a lot lower than what we can afford, it's almost £100 less than we pay on rent.

But with the fiasco the lender gave us today by not telling us in advance what forms we needed to have just stressed me out. We got it sorted during the call, but they knew we are first time buyers, they could have told us we needed that form and got no apology either. Just got 'oh you should have been told'. Plus the information we asked for was different from every person we've spoken to with this lender. Really need to stick to one lot of information, rather than confuse people by changing it daily.

Then came the sales tactics of 'you need to pay a fee to get lower interest' and 'you need this payment scheme to over you in death or illness'. And I got brushed off when I said that it sounded like ppi. I took neither option as we are covered insurance wise in the event of death through work so fine then. And if we do need it, I'm sure I can find something cheaper than £64 a month.

I'm happy we have got it now and it's basically in the hands of the lenders and solicitors now to proceed. We have done our parts as far as I'm aware but god they make it stressful. And scary, I mean it's a lot of money and I'm trusting these people to handle it, which hasn't gone well so far. We had recently switched account to them for a joint account and they somehow did that wrong too.

Just hoping it all gets processed fine and we get our house at the end of April. And now to find a fridge and washing machine.

OP posts:

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AwkwardPaws27 · 14/03/2019 18:08

I would highly recommend going through a broker instead of directly to a lender. Ours cost £199 one off fee (no charge for future remortgaging), found us a deal which saves us about £50 a month on what we'd have got through the bank directly, helped us borrow a bit extra to cover some work and broke everything down for us. Well worth the money!
London and Country are a free broker and are good too, although I found then a bit slower

Stopandlook · 14/03/2019 18:12

Found it a lot more stressful this time around than 8 years ago. Having to provide your bank statements and reveal your coffee habits etc!

Will be worth it.

SlangBack · 14/03/2019 18:14

I second a Broker. They have access to hundreds of offers.

I have just renewed for the 6th year, & again its cheaper with no fee. He sends me the forms in the post after a quick phone call of the new offer.

Deadbydaylight · 14/03/2019 18:16

We are too far now in the process to change, but if I go through this again I'm not using this bank for certain.

Definitely will be worth it. At least the solicitor is great so far.

OP posts:

ZippyBungleandGeorge · 14/03/2019 18:20

Definitely get life insurance and critical illness unless either of you could afford all bills comfortably without the other salary, I know it sounds doom mongery but if something bad should happen health-wise you don't want keeping the roof over your head to be another concern. I wouldn't go through the bank for it though.

Deadbydaylight · 14/03/2019 18:24

ZippyBungleandGeorge

Yeah I don't think it's a bad thing, but their cover seemed really expensive. Way too over priced. I can find something cheaper I'm sure.

OP posts:

YouBoggleMyMind · 14/03/2019 18:28

It'll be the critical illness part that costs more. Life insurance isn't too expensive on its own but if you add in the CI then it'll be more. We pay £59 a month for ours LI and CI.

Also second a broker, we've done that from the word go and he's been worth every penny (one off fee £199).

Good luck and hope it goes smoothly!

Fluffyears · 14/03/2019 18:30

Don’t pay a broker get one who takes commission from the lender. My last two mortgages have been fixed at 2.9% with cash back and he calls before the deal runs out to run through figures. We don’t pay a penny for it, the bank pay him.

Deadbydaylight · 14/03/2019 18:45

Can we switch to a broker after the initial 5 years or are we stuck with this bank?

OP posts:

DogInATent · 14/03/2019 18:53

Can we switch to a broker after the initial 5 years or are we stuck with this bank?
You can change bank/building society/deal any time you like, you'll just incur the ERC. But at the end of the five year fixed deal you'll be able to move it about as you want.

I used a broker for my first mortgage to find a good deal. But I've never spoken to them again since, and I've always gone direct to the same building society for fixed rate deals ever since and when we moved house. They were easy to deal with, always offered a good deal, and were very flexible with out over-payment preferences. We've been on one fixed rate deal after another for pretty much our entire mortgage because it makes budgeting easy.

Deals with fees can be worthwhile, but you need to do the maths carefully and generally you're only better off at the start of your mortgage when you owe the most.

Dragongirl10 · 14/03/2019 18:59

Op are you sure you have the best rate? A broker will cover the whole of the mortgage market to find you the best rate, and you only pay their fee if you decide to take one of the products they have shown you.

A bank will only offer their own mortgage products and are often more expensive......what iterest rate are you paying?

I have bought and sold lots of properties and only use an independent broker.

Boister · 14/03/2019 19:02

My offer from my Broker arrived in the post today at 2.94% for 2 years.

DogInATent · 14/03/2019 19:17

Current 2-7 year fixed rates are ranging from about 1.52% to 3.5%. The deal you'll get offered depends on your LTV.

The best deal for you isn't always the lowest headline interest rate.

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 14/03/2019 19:18

No scarier than rent and nowhere to live when you retire !
DO IT !

Deadbydaylight · 14/03/2019 19:35

I don't really want to back out with this lender now because of the hassle and I just want it done and sorted now.

But I will go with a broker next time. We are quite high interest, 3.79%. But my partner and his mum had kind of insisted on going with this bank. But next time I will just sort it out myself since I know what I am doing. well a bit better at least.

OP posts:

itsboiledeggsagain · 14/03/2019 19:38

My first thought is that is high. But I guess it depends on your ltv.

DogInATent · 14/03/2019 20:00

That does seem high, guessing you're on a 95% LTV.

Which bank is it?

Deadbydaylight · 14/03/2019 20:41

It is 95%.

Not sure I should mention the dipsticks we are with. They are getting a complaint anyway as this isn't the only thing they have messed up on.

OP posts:

Stefoscope · 14/03/2019 23:00

Another vote for going with a broker. Our local one asked for a one off fee of £200 when we took out our first mortgage 5 years ago. That term is coming to an end in the next few weeks and they approached us with a new deal 2% fixed for 5 years. They also take care of any life CI/insurance policies too.

I've worked in retail banking for several of the big banks and would never take out lending purely based on going to who I currently bank with. An independent broker will have access to rates/deals that aren't readily advertised. Also, the level of training banks give to service staff is shockingly rushed and often poor. They're essentially employed to deliver sales over service.

DogInATent · 14/03/2019 23:06

Not Santander by any chance? they seem to get all the bad reviews.

Deadbydaylight · 15/03/2019 07:27

Nah not santander.

It's very obvious they are trained in sales and not service. The service is terrible.

OP posts:

EvaHarknessRose · 15/03/2019 07:35

We’ve never been through a broker. We look for good deals and go direct to lender.

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LakieLady · 15/03/2019 07:35

We had a broker, also about £200 fee.

We only needed a small amount (£50k) and couldn't find a lender who would do such a small mortgage. The broker found us a deal that let us borrow £60k (lender's minimum) but at such a low rate that the repayments were less than we could have got independently even if we'd been able to borrow £50k.

We stuck the excess in a savings account and used it when we repaid the mortgage 5 years later.

Pinkcat231 · 15/03/2019 07:56

I went to a broker but managed to find a cheaper deal direct with my bank, asked if the broker could get me that deal and was told to go direct as it was some sort of loyalty rate for having an account with the bank. I’ll still see a broker next time but will also look for myself.

Getting a first mortgage is scary OP YANBU!

PixiKitKat · 15/03/2019 08:02

I went through a broker who was free and got a 1.89% rate I think. That's with a 15% deposit though. We didn't have 15% but he explained the differences and it it was worth it for us to summon up a last £900 to get over that 15% mark.
Also our life/CI is £38 per month and stays at that price for term of the mortgage

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