Should we renew mortgage this week??

[Sussexserpents]

Mortgage runs out Feb 27 but worried that if we wait until after the budget we are screwed. Current mortgage is 1.5% and have 300k left but know it’s going to be finding an extra £600 a month from somewhere but by the looks of it it could be worse if we wait.

You can book a new rate six months in advance. Do it, that’s then your worst case scenario. If rates get better you can cancel that and get a new quote. You can do this every month if rates kept improving and you wanted to. I usually do it through London and Country who are good at sorting it.

Thanks - we are with nationwide and I think as existing customers we have to be offered the best rate they have. It’s such a scary time…. For those saying we shouldn’t have borrowed that much - we live in the south east so house prices mean we have to have high mortgage. And now we are going to be bashed probably with higher council tax because we are in the south east. Train costs are astronomical. Wages are frozen.

Only one reply who doesn’t mention the amount you’ve borrowed???

What does your broker say ?

last talked to broker a month ago and he suggested going with a 2year from Feb but we didn’t actually talk about locking in earlier as as it felt like at the time things could potentially be better by Feb but now that doesn’t seem likely

Well it’s Mumsnet and I guess I’ve seen replies on other threads where the advice is usually pack and move somewhere cheaper as if that was an option (and no it’s not an option, job is here, elderly parents who I am a carer for are here and dc happy in their school, and live in a good secondary catchment)

I was following everything religiously up until May when my DC secured their mortgage but had been bidding for houses across last two years.
I’m not as familiar as I was but I’d be tempted to fix now. Just think the mortgage rate will go up this month.

I have an offer which expires in February. My broker recommended to go for it now because she thinks rates will rise. It’s a guessing game of course

Is it free to "lock in" a rate now and cancel it later? How do people normally do this, exactly? Via brokers? Or just on the bank website?

@kisaki333we did it via a broker - London and country

The budget is unlikely to affect long term interest rates.

This is a normal mortgage in the Southeast. We borrowed 350k 10 years ago. Have just remorgaged 5y fix at 4.9% and paid some off so its down to 10y left and overpaying every month. Our LTV is now 20%. The smart money is saying a tracker will be less over the term but I cba with the uncertainty everytime something kicks off. Before that we were on 0.99% 5y fix so we've had it good for a good portion of the mortgage.

So what did you choose to do @Sussexserpents?

We have selected a fixed term rate with nationwide to move on to in Feb but likely will cancel and move to a 2 year tracker that will allow us to overpay. We have a flat in London that was my husbands when we met. We plan to try and sell and put the equity in as an overpayment. We did not plan to sell the flat and hoped to keep it as an investment but it’s just not worth it. I know Mumsnet hates a landlord but we have always been ethical and actually this is rented out through the council now and any profit (very little after mortgage and leasehold fees) has gone on maintenance. We are currently investigating if we can sell to the council - it’s a one bed flat with good modern fittings inside and on the second floor so feel like it would be a good investment for the council. If not we have to give the tennant 6 months notice before we can sell.