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Original poster

Shitting myself over mortgage

44 replies

MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 19:42

Name changed for this as I’ve told people in real life.

We have two mortgages with HSBC, one of which’s fixed rate runs out in December and the other which runs out in January. (Had to take a second when we moved house and were locked in to a fixed deal on the first one)

We could’ve fixed the one that runs out in December sooner but didn’t want to have to pay two arrangement fees so had hoped to do it together with the second one.

Of course, while waiting for this to happen, everything has gone to hell.

Tried to fix with HSBC last week at 3.72% and was going to pay the redemption fee on the second mortgage but it couldn’t be done online without paying two arrangement fees at £999 per one. Spoke to them over the phone and they confirmed it’s a problem with their system that means it can’t be done online. Had an appointment with an advisor the next day but in the meantime the rates have gone up overnight - over 1% to 4.92%.

The advisor sent an email to their rates team to ask if they would honour the original rate I had been trying to go ahead with. This was on Thursday and we’ve still not heard anything ☹️

As a back up we also applied for a mortgage with NatWest at 3.78% on Thursday. This offer has now been pulled on their website. Does anyone know if they can change the rate after you’ve applied for a mortgage?

And has anyone ever heard of HSBC honouring previous rates due to an error with their website. I know it’s highly unlikely.

I basically haven’t slept since Thursday amid all this stress. I’m so worried we won’t be able to afford our bills. I feel physically ill and struggling to think of anything else.

Thanks so much if you got this far

OP posts:
tootiredtospeak · 03/10/2022 19:55

Try not to panic I work for a high street bank and yes we would honour things that had been agreed as long as it can be proven that it is our systems at fault. Keep a time and date of that original call so it can be listened too if necessary and dont accept a higher rate raise a complaint if needed

Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 20:31

Thank you so much @tootiredtospeak This is reassuring. I’ll find the time of the call I had with a someone in the call centre on Wednesday.

It wasn’t actually agreed though. I’d just found a rate I wanted and couldn’t work out how to do it with only one arrangement fee so I called them and she said it wasn’t possible to do it online.

Im just scared that if I don’t go ahead with any kind of mortgage asap we’ll end up with some hideous 6% deal if we’re not careful.

I can’t believe this is all happening

OP posts:
SandysMam · 03/10/2022 20:36

What sort of figures are you taking about Op? Were you not stress tested on the original application or have your circumstances changed since then?

OliverBabish · 03/10/2022 20:39

YANBU.

stress testing is worthless when the costing of living (fuel, energy, food) is going wild.

I feel like crying about it all tonight. It’s just a lot.

Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 20:44

Mortgage is £330,000 in total on a £600,000 house. We can stretch the term a bit but not too much.

We were on a 3 year fix at 1.9% on both mortgages.

We’ll be going from paying £1300 per month to potentially paying £1700.

With other bills and energy rates going through the roof we’re really going to struggle.

We have 3 children including 2 year old twins which cost us a lot in childcare.

We earn £80k combined and live in the south east

OP posts:
Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 20:47

OliverBabish · 03/10/2022 20:39

YANBU.

stress testing is worthless when the costing of living (fuel, energy, food) is going wild.

I feel like crying about it all tonight. It’s just a lot.

Thank you. Appreciate your understanding.

Feels a bit like being accused of poor financial planning from a PP. We earn decent money but can’t afford holidays or loads of treats. Shop in Aldi. I don’t know where else we can cut.

We live in a modest 3 bed semi. House prices in the south east are insane

OP posts:
Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 20:47

I have cried about it tonight and many other nights @OliverBabish 😢

OP posts:
LimboLass · 03/10/2022 20:50

Can you move out a bit for a cheaper house? You have a good amount of equity.

It might be worth it for reduced costs and to spend a little more on the children.

SandysMam · 03/10/2022 20:52

Ah sorry Op, didn’t mean to make you feel worse! No judgment here, it’s a shit show out there!

justtryingtogeton · 03/10/2022 20:54

I am a mortgage broker.

Your circumstances are very similar to mine.

I just moved some of my mortgage onto interest only for a few years as I'd rather heat than worry about paying off the capital right now.

This situation won't last forever, and mortgage are flexible.

LivingMyBestLie · 03/10/2022 20:59

No advice, just a lot of empathy.

We're in a very similar financial situation to you in terms of mortgage value, equity, kids and earnings.

My only advice is that it WILL get easier as the kids get older. I know that doesn't help now, but if you can keep your head above water for a few more years, hopefully your bills will gradually reduce x

OliverBabish · 03/10/2022 21:01

You’re allowed those nights, OP. It’s a heavy responsibility when you’ve got kids too, it’s less easy to make drastic cuts. I don’t think I have any drastic cuts left to make! Similar to the PP, I will decide when my fix is up if it will make sense to go interest only. Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination but it is an option I’m going to explore.

I hope you hear back from the banks and they honour the better rate 🙏

LimboLass · 03/10/2022 21:14

This situation won't last forever, and mortgage are flexible

I am interested when you say this situation will not last forever.

What do you mean by that?

Waterdropsdown · 03/10/2022 21:15

It’s not very helpful when people say they live in a modest house, in SE England for people to come on and say “move out a bit”. Moving Costs money and stress and time. Houses are seriously expensive.
this person has already said they have 3 kids in a 3 bed.

OP I hope you get the lower rate. It is a crippling expensive time while you pay for that childcare.

CrapBucket · 03/10/2022 21:17

Sending you good vibes OP, you sound lovely and I felt a lot like this when mine were in nursery and there was a financial shitstorm going on. Honestly you will get through it. (My only advice is don't be married to a dickhead, hopefully you're not!)

Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 21:18

LimboLass · 03/10/2022 20:50

Can you move out a bit for a cheaper house? You have a good amount of equity.

It might be worth it for reduced costs and to spend a little more on the children.

No. Moving house costs a fortune and they’re predicting house prices will go down the pan.

We also commute from here for our jobs, our children are in school and childcare. Childcare places are almost impossible to come by, let alone for twins, in a 20 mile radius around here.

We also have ageing parents who we help care for nearby.

By the time we could secure a new mortgage on a new purchase instead I dread to think what the rates would be.

Have you seen the state of the housing market. A friend just took over 6 months to move with it falling through 3 times along the way. Absolutely mad suggestion.

OP posts:
Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 21:19

SandysMam · 03/10/2022 20:52

Ah sorry Op, didn’t mean to make you feel worse! No judgment here, it’s a shit show out there!

Thank you. Yes it’s just awful isn’t it. I’m so scared for the future

OP posts:
Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 21:19

LivingMyBestLie · 03/10/2022 20:59

No advice, just a lot of empathy.

We're in a very similar financial situation to you in terms of mortgage value, equity, kids and earnings.

My only advice is that it WILL get easier as the kids get older. I know that doesn't help now, but if you can keep your head above water for a few more years, hopefully your bills will gradually reduce x

Thank you. All the good wishes to you too x

OP posts:
Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 21:21

justtryingtogeton · 03/10/2022 20:54

I am a mortgage broker.

Your circumstances are very similar to mine.

I just moved some of my mortgage onto interest only for a few years as I'd rather heat than worry about paying off the capital right now.

This situation won't last forever, and mortgage are flexible.

Interesting. This hasn’t come up
as an option when I was looking at mortgages. Perhaps I wasn’t searching under the right parameters. Probably too
late now in any case

OP posts:
Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 21:21

OliverBabish · 03/10/2022 21:01

You’re allowed those nights, OP. It’s a heavy responsibility when you’ve got kids too, it’s less easy to make drastic cuts. I don’t think I have any drastic cuts left to make! Similar to the PP, I will decide when my fix is up if it will make sense to go interest only. Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination but it is an option I’m going to explore.

I hope you hear back from the banks and they honour the better rate 🙏

Thank you x

OP posts:
Unicorn2022 · 03/10/2022 21:23

LimboLass · 03/10/2022 21:14

This situation won't last forever, and mortgage are flexible

I am interested when you say this situation will not last forever.

What do you mean by that?

Presumably they mean that the OP won't always have 2 year old twins costing a fortune in childcare and also the mortgage will eventually reduce in cost over the years.

Original poster
MortagageHell · 03/10/2022 21:24

CrapBucket · 03/10/2022 21:17

Sending you good vibes OP, you sound lovely and I felt a lot like this when mine were in nursery and there was a financial shitstorm going on. Honestly you will get through it. (My only advice is don't be married to a dickhead, hopefully you're not!)

Thank you. Much appreciated.

luckily husband isn’t a dickhead but has left the responsibility of remortgaging in my lap. I understand it better than him but clearly not well enough as we’ve ended up in this nightmare!

I was mulling over paying the redemption charges on both in the summer and remortgaging then and really wish I’d bloody done it now 😩

OP posts:
Bzzz · 03/10/2022 21:24

@MortagageHell We applied for a barclays mortgage today and got a rate of 3.05 fixed for 10yrs. I would have a look at what they are offering

Royalbloo · 03/10/2022 21:24

4 point anything is pretty good right now...

Crimblecrumblerules · 03/10/2022 21:30

I doubt the high interest rates will last forever either, when I had my first mortgage in the early 90's it was around 8/9% even briefly shot up to 15%. Still at least we were getting a decent return on savings too.