Loan or Mortgage?

[Nepotism]

Background - I own my house outright (c£300,000) but have done it up with the help of 0% balance transfer cards. I now want to pay them off and borrow a bit more to finish the work.

I applied to my bank, Santander, expecting to be offered the headline rate of 3.5% for £15k over four years (easily affordable, I have very low outgoings) and got immediate acceptance at 9.8%!

I then had a look at my credit record and there were no issues, so all I can think of is the problem is I've only lived there 18 months.

My question is, do I risk applying to another lender and therefore show another search on my file, or can I obtain a mortgage on a property I already live in and own? Most lenders websites only cover remortgaging when you have a mortgage.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

The headline rate is usually increased if its debt consolidation particularly if it isn't with the same lender. One thing to consider is how long is left on your 0% as you will be paying interest as soon as you take out the new loan or mortgage which you could save if there is a while left?
You should be able to apply for a homeowner loan (raising money on a property) with your property as security but this will be credit scored also, another thing to keep in mind when taking a mortgage/homeowner loan to repay debt, the term is likely to be much longer so although the rate can be lower you can still end up paying more ie your cards could be repaid in 5 years and you're likely to take the new mortgage over longer than this (hope this makes sense!) your first step would be to see a mortgage provider for an agreement in principal to make sure the figures look affordable.

If the cards are on 0% now and you have very low outgoings and no mortgage then wouldn't it be a better option to just pay for the home repairs then pay off the cards and not incur any interest charges?

If you're only talking about £15k overall then it might be an option.

You can get a mortgage with no early repayment penalty and overpay, so benefit from the low rate and pay off quickly.