AIBU to be totally panicked by our remortgage?

[ploddingalong2023]

We haven’t remortgaged before. Got our first mortgage 2 years ago. We are due for a remortgage in August, fully accepted that it is going to go up with the current climate but my worry is our salary change.

since our original mortgage, no partners salary has remained the same but mine has reduced slightly as I have dropped a day to spend more time with our little one. (Something we had always planned after I returned from Mat leave)

Our salaries now don’t combine to the 4/4.5 x that a lot of mortgages rely on.

however, we manage every month. (It’s tight but we made that choice when we bought) but as I say we manage and have never ever missed a payment for anything, mortgage included.

is remortgaging easier than getting the original mortgage? Will other lenders, if they offer a better rate, offer even though we are under the 4 x rate? (Marginally)

will they take into consideration 2 years of paying a mortgage with no misses?

Which right now is huge.

@IpsyUpsyDaisyDoos thanks. The issue is I don't have any spare cash upfront. I used simply adverse last time who added the fees/costs to the mortgage which is why I'm worrying a bit
My rate of 4.79% seemed crap in 2021 but it's worked out ok
Im skirting right on the very edge of excellent adverse vs building society!

Speak to StepChange. They have mortgage brokers who may be able to help you find what's right for you now, and they are a debt management charity so their brokers won't charge you a fee. They are very highly thought of in the mortgage industry.

If you stay with your current lender and just go on best deal with them they don't do affordability checks.

9% isn`t high by historical standards, it depends how much debt you have I suppose.

Well, no, but it doesn’t really matter to the OP what some hypothetical person was paying 30 years ago.

If you were on a 2.5% fix, then fixing again at 5% now is likely to be a bit more manageable than paying 9%!

As everyone has said, staying with current lender won't trigger affordability checks, but you do need to review how much your repayments will be.

As I'm sure you know, rates have gone up massively, so you may be looking at a much higher monthly repayment - worrying if things are already tight for you. You should be able to see what rates your provider will offer for your house value/lending on their website.

If it is too much, you could extend your mortgage term. We had the option to do this when remortgaging but staying with same provider. It will cost you significantly more money over the mortgage term, but may be worthwhile in the early years when money is tight/you're mostly paying interest only anyway.

The Money Supermarket mortgage rates tool is a really good way to see current rates and understand how your repayment will change based in mortgage term and available rates.

Going onto SVR isn't as crazy as it sounds. You can fix at any time, and in the meantime, if rates come down, you can save overall. For instance, our fix ran out at the end of Dec. We went onto SVR instead of fixing at over 5%. Halfway through January we fixed at under 5% and this works out cheaper over the length of the fix, just being on SVR for a few weeks.
If I were you I would get on the phone the L&C. They charge no fees and have have always got me a better rate than a paid for mortgage broker or anything I have found independently.
You can also go to moneysavingexpert comparison.
But if in doubt, just contact your current provider. As others have said, product switches are simple.

Just to echo everyone else - stay with your current lender, but I wouldn't even start to think about fixing in a deal until April - I think you'll get better rates then.

@LightSwerve

For most people, once the 25 years are up they will have paid off their mortgage so no conversation to have

Main bulk was interest only with endowment & when we moved the extra was repayment. So we finished paying main part & have this extra from when we moved. It was separate section of mortgage.

@SgtJuneAckland

I think it was over 14 years when we added the extra £60k on. We had main part as interest only with endowment & that's paid off. Then the extra over 14 years. Just want rid of it now & have 6 years left. I was surprised it went up £100/month.