What happens at the end of a fixed rate mortgage period if your circumstances have changed?

[floellabenjaminsearrings]

Our fixed rate mortgage period is due to come to an end next year, when we will go up to svr. This is a lot higher than we are currently paying, and if rates rise, will obviously be higher again.

Our circumstances have changed in that we are now single income as opposed to two incomes when we took out the mortgage, and, coupled with the tightening of mortgage rules, we won't have a hope of getting the same level of mortgage elsewhere based on DH's salary alone. I am in the process of setting up my own business, but don't anticipate making much for the first couple of years. I know that all of this means we are pretty much have to stay with our current lender, but does this mean that we will be stuck on whatever svr is at the time, or would they consider giving us another fixed rate deal?

About 2-3 months before our fixed rate came to an end we had an email from our provider asking us to go online and see what current deals we were eligible for next. We didn't say anything about us only having one income now, just picked a deal from the ones they offered. Didn't have to talk to anyone or do anything other than sign the forms when they came through the post.

That was with Natwest in April/May this year for a new fix starting in June.

I'm damn sure we wouldn't be offered anything by anyone else.

Thanks, it is good to know that companies are still offering deals to existing customers, and not looking too closely. When our last fixed rate came to an end, we did similar, but she specifically asked "have your circumstances changed at all". It is this question that concerns me. The irony of course is that we are more likely to struggle if we are on svr.

Ah. We specifically chose not to speak with anyone, just picked from the online deals available and did it all that way.

IIRC, I was told that when our fixed rate deal ended we would be eligible to go onto any of the other rates they were currently offering. We ended up moving to a new deal that was worse than the initial one, but not by that much. They do seem to expect that as long as you ask, you can hop onto another deal.

We are coming to the end of our fixed rate with Barclays/Woolich and when we saw our advisor she pretty much said as we are already with them and have paid on time etc that there would be no new assessment of income needed. She also mentioned that it was in the banks interest to keep us on the best rate possible. I'm sure you will be fine :)

Juniper, that sounds very wise. The new assessment rules are so tough that anyone who can just renew or get a new deal without having to set out what they spend on meal out, hair, clothes, nursery should avoid it.

Ending a product and moving to a new one with an existing mortage doesn't mean you have to re-apply for another mortgage. It's just a simple switch and can be done with a 5 minute phone call.