*mortgage question* interest rate help please

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Hi
I have no idea about the quotes we have seen so..
I'm looking for advice on what is a "good " interest rate.

First time buyers with 5% deposit, what would you class as a good rate?

Thank

It depends on various factors, for instance the length of the fix, any product fees and the opportunity for overpaying.

So there's no such thing as an average rate or a good rate, I know they are variable bit what is the range they are most often in?

Fixed for how long? My friend just got 2.34 for 5 years with a 10% deposit
Using a broker?

It really varies and will depend on the ratio between the value of the property and the mortgage amount you wish to borrow. Google is your friend here. Check out Barclays', for example, website for their mortgage rates and that'll give you a pretty good idea. Also look at other lenders' sites.

Money supermarket has a mortgage comparison that you input the house value and the size of mortgage you need and it’ll give you loads of lenders rates. A lot of the cheapest ones are for building societies who only lend in certain areas - I got all excited at how low some of the rates were and then realised that a lot of places don’t lend in Scotland

Look at a mortgage comparison tool, that'll give you an idea. I think 95% is about 3% at the moment in many places but lots of factors to consider.

Thanks everyone, I looked at Google and money supermarket first was just curious to what real people thought

It'll depend how long you fix for as well. We had 3.69% for 95% LTV which wasn't very good really (only a few lenders would lend to us for a couple reasons) but within 2 years without even doing anything to our house we have gone up to 85% LTV and our rate is now only 1.99% :) it's quite a big difference between 95% LTV to 90% LTV rates in my experience.

We did 5% depsoit,borrowed £200k, fixed for 2 years, initial mortgage term of 40 years and got 2.05% interest

We're on 5 year fixed 1.9%

You haven’t given enough information for anyone to tell you what a good rate would be. Variables would include your salaries, job security, profession, house location and type, your credit record, spending and affordability etc. Just because a rate exists doesn’t mean you’ll get it. Some people have very little choice because of poor credit ratings, others have much more of a pick of the market.

We could probably be on a lower rate but we fixed for a long time as we knew our affordability would be less certain for remortgages post children given childcare costs and part time working. We didn’t want to get stuck on the SVR if we couldn’t remortgage easily. We’ve paid a premium for security of payments and we’re fine with that. When we come to remortgage, we won’t have those same concerns and will be able to prioritise rates over security of payments.

1.79% fixed for 5 years at 90% LTV

We're on 1.54% but have a good LTV.

So there's no such thing as an average rate or a good rate

Not really. There will be an average rate, which I suspect is currently around 2-3%, so a good rate is probably anywhere below 2%. And that's what is available today. Eg ours is 1.13%, but you can't get that today, not without restrictions eg short term fix, high application fee, v low LTV.

You are a FTB and need a high LTV mortgage. That puts you at a disadvantage as you won't qualify for the best products without a bigger deposit and you have no track record of repaying a mortgage.

To get the best mortgage for you you need to see a broker but also do your own research, as some lenders only lend direct and TBH, even often recommended brokers don't listen and push their own agenda - eg we went to John Charcol - a big online broker and the product they offered was crap and nothing like what I asked for, which was a lifetime BOE tracker.

They offered a fixed term discount off SVR tracker, which would have turned out to be far far more expensive - we are on a lifetime 0.75% above BOE product.

A good place to start is the Moneysavingexpert mortgage guide.