The dreaded mortgage renewal is due

[summerlovingvibes]

Got a text to say we can start looking at rates / book.

Would like to stay with current provider for ease, but in this climate I would be tempted to change if other places date offering really good deals.

Have done an online calculator etc.

But haven't needed to change banks for a while as they've always been ok.

So with change of bank is it a complete new application as if you've never had a mortgage? All the bank statements / house valuation etc?

And has anyone got any decent rates at the moment that I might not have seen on the comparison site? What are people getting?

Call London & Country. Very helpful.

Thanks Boater, will look into them

I’d get a decent broker to have a Quick Look for you. Alexander Hall are decent, SPF mortgages too

I was going to say this.

I change every five years and have always used them.

They're brilliant and take care of everything for you.

Another vote for L&C. You can book a rate with them then ask them to rerun the figures in 3 months and if there’s better out there take it. You can then check again with about a month to go but that’s between a deal with the company you have an offer in your hand from and the best from your current provider as they have both done their checks and there probably isn’t time
to do it with someone else.

I’ve called brokers but they’ve never beaten what First Direct offer at 60%LTV (and they allow unlimited overpayments).

This sounds good.
I registered my details with them last night and will chat to them.

Thank you all - have never heard of them x

Yes ours is probably around the 60% or less LTV rate now as property price has increased.

Have always overpaid and now the overpayment that we can afford will just be absorbed into the actual mortgage amount which I'm ok with.

I just love their customer service - use them as a bank too - and they are just incredibly easy to get hold of and speak to and have never ever had an issue. No automated phone lines etc. Love them!

I found L&C pushy and they couldn’t get a lower deal than I found on moneysavingexpert - their quote was a lot higher!

Are you fixing for 2yrs? Your existing lender may work out cheaper as you probably won’t pay a transfer fee. I’ve fixed with my current lender now as I can cancel at any time. I will wait to see what interest rates do on Thursday and then either keep the deal or change to a lower one if they go down.

Unless you’ve got really complicated finances, I’ve never seen the point of a mortgage broker.

10mins on the internet will show you what’s what, the banks are ultra competitive with each other.

Same here. Well it might have been John Charcol, but it was definitely one of the big free mortgage brokers that are often recommended.

Completely ignored what I asked for and were quite rude when I explained why I wouldn't be taking the product that I'd said I didn't want several times.

In the end we went direct to HSBC and got a lifetime tracker product that saved us thousands in interest over the time we had a mortgage.

Mortgage brokers also let a lot of people down in 2020/1 when they were still recommending 2 year fixes at a time when people could have fixed at rock bottom rates for 5/10 years because after all, they earn their money from people switching every 2 years so that's what they'll recommend.

Spoke to L&D today. Nice enough guy but I wasn't fully prepared for all the questions and now remember why I hate doing this so much - trying to answer specific money questions with 2 young kids around isn't fun for an hour!

After all the information I could give he told me the best rate he could see, and to be fair when I have checked back with first direct (current lender) they are actually a smidge cheaper with their best rate 0.20% less so it makes no sense to change.

So a good process to go through to know that I'll probably not find much better elsewhere, or if I do it will hardly make a difference which won't be the hassle of changing 👍

Having done one mortgage renewal through a broker and multiple myself, the broker saved us a lot of time and I'd definitely use them again.

Had to have an hour phone call with the mortgage company ourselves, plus multiple other touch points (including some issue resolution as we had some problems before it went through) vs a broker who just did everything for us after a quick phone call with just one of us (me!). I did my own research so knew exactly what we wanted both times and also checked that we couldn't get a hugely better rate elsewhere.

So in a sense you're right as they didn't get a better rate than we could have got ourselves but saved us so much time so I would definitely use them again!

💯 London and county they are so helpful, we had a slightly complicated re mortgage and they sorted us out

BBR went down today though… swaps followed, I’d expect some lenders lower their rates over the next week or so.

your existing provider might provide rates for existing customers to brokers. Always worthwhile checking, going fee free to get a rate in and then keeping an eye out in the market place