Remortgage

[timetogetlost]

We are down to one income at the moment, and due a remortgage. I know if I stay with the same provider I won't have to go through affordability checks, but they are not offering as good a deal as I had hoped (4.04%). Our current fix ends at the end of April. Should I hold on and see if they change their offer? Or shop around? Our ltv is 60%, I earn around £45k, and we owe around £130k. Would this be enough to shop around? Thanks for any opinions.

I’d get a mortgage broker to sort this for me. I’ve never paid for the service and they got us a larger mortgage on not much more income than you have. It does depend on other outgoings though

Thank you. I was nervous to include a third person. I'm not sure why, really. We had been hoping to reduce the term of the mortgage this time, but won't now. Therefore, we just want a short fix, and hope that in 2 years' time we will be able to reduce the term.

Can't comment on your amounts, however I have to stay with same provider as I'm a single person and after some health issues I was retired on ill health grounds and topped up with pip (banks dont like this). So I can never change my term so following advice from a lovely financial adviser at my bank I was told how much to overpay to equal the term I wanted to be on so you could try that instead. It also means if circumstances change you have a bit more flexibility.
If you look on martin lewis website you can mess around with the calculations and see whats best for you.

I was literally about to make my own thread about this! Are you with natwest? Ive just got my offers through. My 2 years are 3.71% with 995 fee or 4.04 with no fee. Definitely lock in something as if rates drop, you just ring up and cancel the switch and select a new offer. It's just a case of what one

Both really helpful, thanks. I was about to ask just that! Yes, it is Natwest. My question was going to be, shall I switch right now, to start paying about £85 less per month, but would I risk missing a better deal by April? You have answered that. But final consideration is that if my partner gets a job, would we regret not shopping around by April? I think not, as if we could lock in a better deal with Natwest, anything better out there is like to be comparable anyway. Thanks again. We will be overpaying to reduce the term, too, thanks pp.

I dont know answer to your question as presumably you're on a fix until April so you'd be breaking the fix if you changed rate now? If you select a fix which starts when your current one ends then if rates drop you literally just ring natwest and they cancel and you can select a new one. :-) you probably could get cheaper overall elsewhere, but i personally think its very marginal for all the faff of remortgaging elsewhere.

Just another comment. I was with NatWest but moved to First Direct. It may look tempting to go for the lower interest rate and pay a fee but my mortgage adviser (with FD) worked it out and said over two years I would end up paying less with the higher interest rate than taking the lower interest rate and paying a fee. I have only gone with the 2 years as I’m an optimist and think interest rates will drop a bit more.

Definitely use a broker, they’ll work it out for you and save you money. They’ll have more of an idea about future interest rate cuts also

Thanks again. Yes, I had forgotten that we are just lining things up, not actually starting until April. Got it.
I realise about product fees and had already done the maths. Going to set up the Natwest 2 year fix with no product fee for now. That's a weight off my mind. Thanks for all opinions.

Hey, just thought id let you know, I can now view the other offfers available via my natwest app despite having selected one already so IF a better one comes available between now and April, I can just do it via my phone. At present theyre the same as when I selected my fix but banks have started to reduce some rates so hoping natwestnfollows soon.

Thank you. I phoned them and talked it all through, so have one ready and waiting to go now.

By the way, the rate on this Natwest deal.has dropped. I just checked. Worth fixing again at lower. Good news!

I wouldn't shorten the term as it commits you to higher payments, which might cause you to struggle, or at least force a drop in lifestyle.

You can always overpay a certain amount on fixes and if you're looking at a rate of around 4% or less, you can get more than that in savings anyway so it's better to save separately and overpay later in the unlikely event your savings can't beat your mortgage rate.