Do you remortgage every time your fixed rate comes to an end?

[Annoy]

Just that really… We have our first fixed rate deal coming to an end and wondering what to do.

Judging by the houses that have sold recently on our road I would estimate approx £90k increase in value to our house.

Out LTV at this rate would be 57%
Compared to it currently being 78%

Thanks

We always go with a new fixed rate rather than stay on variable, but so far in this house we've stayed with our current lender as it's much less faff. I do check if we could get better rates elsewhere and if there was a massive difference we would consider switching lenders, but for a tenner a month the additional hassle just isn't worth it for me. We have a fairly low LTV though so no significant advantage to us in trying to factor in the current value of our house into the mix, which I think there would be if the LTV was higher.

We had a friend who used to try and tell us that when you came to remortgage that the equity was there to fund your lifestyle.

Both of us being risk averse, decided not to buy into this concept.

We are now mortgage free and just about to retire comfortably, he is still paying a mortgage on a house he bought for £98,000 in 1997.

He doesn't mention remortgaging anymore, funny that.

Just realised I misread the tone of the thread, top tip, don't presume and don't speed read.

Yes, I always did. I had used a broker, London and Country, who contacted me a few months before the fix expired each time. Several times we stayed with the same lender as the other options were no better and the costs were less. My objective was always to reduce the term by a further year if I could afford it. Fees etc make a difference, but we didn't bother about the LTV ratio. I think its only important if you want to release some capital.
DC is buying and has gone for a 5 year fix as it gives a bit more security at the moment.

@Annoy

Thanks for your replies!

Sorry, judging from the replies I wasn’t so clear in my op.

I intend to stay on a fixed rate. I just wondered whether many people shopped around other lenders and whether you revalued your house each time.

Thanks

We stayed with our current lender after our recent fix came to an end. They did a desktop valuation as part of the switch and we moved down an LTV band - your lender will do at least a desktop review and you could decide from there whether you want to shop around?

Yes we have just fixed for 5 years at 1.66%

Didn't bother having the house revalued as even at the last valuation we only wanted to borrow about 20%

Last time we were due to renew our fixed rate our broker told us to stay with the same lender because we are in the last few years of paying it off and transfer fees would negate any monthly saving on repayments. (We owe less than £20k). We did take another fixed rate and shorten the term with the existing lender.

We don't remortgage to a new lender but we always re fix in advance of our current rate coming to an end
It does depend who you are with currently though. Some lenders offer rubbish rates to existing customers. We are with Nationwide and have been for the last 8 years I think now. We stay with them as they email us about 3m before our rate ends and they always offer us a really good rate. When I look at what other lenders are offering it is usually very close to the top 9f the best buy tables
We are at about 55% LTV now though which helspspsp massively. We fixed for 5 years back in November and rate is just 0.94%. We did had to pay a fee of £999 which we added to the current balance but couldn't find anything better at the time and it literally took five mins to sort without having to even speak to anyone. They also allowed us to reduce the term by a year

We are now mortgage free and just about to retire comfortably, he is still paying a mortgage on a house he bought for £98,000 in 1997.

A wise observation.

(Of course he's now not just paying for the house, but also the holidays, cars and nights out he clocked up, with interest!)

Absolutely yes.

Fixed rate means you know how much you are paying.

Interest is at an all time low and will be going up so definitely fix now.

People waste thousands from not refinancing- when your fixed rate has expired, the terms mean you start paying a much higher rate - like after the offer period has run out on a credit card. You then end up paying off more interest and less on your original balance.

Basic financial education should be part of the core education system- so many of my friends haven’t had the opportunity to get their heads round this till we had a chat. And financial independence is key to many women’s subcritical and independence too

I would. Interest rates are currently more likely to go up than down.

I think people are using the term 'remortgage' interchangeably with product transfers here. Remortgaging is taking out a new loan, whether it's with your current provider or a new one. You have to pay arrangement and valuation fees, and there may be a solicitor involved (though it could be included by the mortgage firm).
A product transfer is much less faff - you keep the same mortgage, but commit to a new rate for a certain period (usually 3-5 years). It doesn't usually come with fees attached and you don't need to involve a solicitor.

To pick which you need, consider if you're changing the term of your mortgage (the 25+ years you'll be paying it off for, not the fixed period), if you're changing the amount you borrow and the costs involved.

Unless you're on the verge of paying off the whole lot, avoid sitting on the SVR if you can, it's usually significantly more expensive than either remortgaging or fixing on a new product!

We're due to fix again - or would be - but only have 2 years left and I'd like to overpay by more than the monthly limits. So, gulp, think going to the svr is the better option. Feels a bit scary.