Mortgages - any one up to speed?

[popsycal]

Current fixed rate ends in May and goes to SVR. We were just going to let it pootle along. HOwever, DH is panicking about changing interest rate and the fact that we only have my income at the minute.

Our mortgage is tiny (around 50,000 now) and the broker we used last time now charge a whopping great fee!

I am not sure where to start!
Are there any independent brokers who don't charge a fee?

Minor panic!

Yes, lots of independent advisors don't charge fees as they take a commission from the provider.

Talk directly to your bank (you don't need an IFA to do this) and ask what the payments will be when you shift to SVR. Likely to be less than what you are paying now I think.

Ask them if you go with this for a while is it ok to change to fixed again if interest rates shift and you are worried about finances.

What you will need to be aware of is that most banks will not touch a mortgage of less than 50K (ie if you remortgage to another lender) so if you stick with your bank now rather than change you are likely to be with them for the rest of the loan.

Hope that makes sense.

contacted bank last week and SVR will go to 3.99% but that is based upon what it is now not what it will be in June.

Is it really true about less than 50,000? I didnt know that.

I will ask around about IFAs - anyone here recommend free ones?

Hi, I would try London and Country for some completely independant advice - they are a large broker but do not charge any fees. It is over the telephone advice.

If you are concerned about rising interest rates I would also talk to Woolwich as they do a clever product called switch and fix where you have the option to go on a variable rate now but move to a fixed rate instantly and with no charges should rates start to rise.

HTH

Oh and while a lot of the better products will be a minimum of 50k loan most banks do offer rates on mortgages from 25k.

If your mortgage is slightly less than 50k a lot of products offer you the ability to overpay by 10% without penalty so investigate whether rates would be cheaper to borrow 50k+ as you could always repay the extra straight away but get the better interest rate

Many lenders will be happy as larry with a 50K mortgage. Most won't go below £5k and you sometimes get different rates dependent on the balance. Can't recommend an independent mortgage broker as work for a lender

some brill advice thanks
looking into woolwich

svr with current lender is actually 2.99% not 3.99 as I posted.

I ought to also add into the mix that we want to move as soon as we can once dh is working and also that we have at least 70k equity in the house - possibly more...

If it were me, which unfortunately it isn't (fixed at 5.99 under the circumstances I would stay where you are on a lovely 2.99% if you are planning to move imminently.

I would second Ben10's advice and stay on SVR if you are looking to move imminently. Base rate may creep up to around 2% by the end of the year so assuming your SVR is base rate linked it still wont be too bad.

Not like my stupid Santander SVR at nearly 5% and I cant remortgage as we bought our house in 2007 at the height of the market and what was our 15% deposit is probably all but gone now

That said if you DH really wants to look at fixing now just make sure that it is fully portable and you can move it with you to a new property.

Also, why not look around at banks and building societies websites, rather than use a broker? It takes you a bit more legwork, but I know not all best deals are available through a broker so often ends up a better deal anyway, eg bank I work for often has fees reduced etc but these are only offered if you come directly to the bank, brokers aren't offered them.