Mortgage

[Restaurantcritic]

My fixed rate ends soon. I’m trying g to work out his much it will go up but maths not my strong point! Anyone in a similar position recently? Was the increase in monthly payments a shock?

Use a broker. London and country are free and were brilliant in securing a far better deal than we’d found on the market www.landc.co.uk/

I plugged the numbers into money saving expert remortgage calculator, just to get an idea of the ballpark amount it will likely go up to.

I will use L&C when it is time to remortgage though

Sorry to hijack but in the same boat. Are people going for fixed or variable rate ?

The increase will depend on the difference in interest rates, amount you owe and term you take the mortgage out for so everyone's experience will be different.

Look on Moneysavingexpert.com for a calculator and also advice on how to make the transition as painless as possible (review your other income and expenses to free up as much money as possible to pay the mortgage, if you have any savings use these to reduce the balance and if necessary increase the term).

Check that you can actually afford the new amount and in extreme circumstances it may be worth considering moving to a cheaper property if its totally unaffordable.

We can afford it I think. We’re not badly off. Just needed an idea so will check the calculators.

Out of interest…we have about £70 grand left in it. If you were due £30000 would you pay it off your mortgage? Or save it in an ISA or whatever?

I probably need to see a FA! But just wondering what others might do.

If you're going to get the £30k prior to remortgaging then I'd absolutely pay it towards the mortgage. It's a huge chunk of what's left. If not, them you probably won't be able to in one go, as many mortgages have 10% overpayment restrictions.

See how much you can pay extra on mortgage without being charged (can usually overpay 10% of remaining sum per year) and put the rest in high interest savings to overpay again next year? My mortgage went up by 500 per month but we only bought 3 years ago so still got 300,000 on it! Yours wont be so bad.

Depends on whether you have other savings and comparable interest rates. Also whether you're planning large purchases like a car replacement.

You can get over 5% on savings so if your mortgage is lower than that, it makes more sense to keep the money in savings unless you think you'll fritter it away. But don't forget tax, although you could put some in an ISA.