Mortgages....boring!

[debster]

Our mortgage deal is coming to an end on 31st October and we are having a meeting with our provider (Halifax) tomorrow to discuss a new rate. Our current rate is fantastic at 0.3% below the Bank of England rate. This means we are only paying 3.2% The problem is that since we got this rate my partner has become a SAHD which means we now only have one income. This obviously puts us at a disadvantage in negotiating a new rate as we can't go to another provider. Does anyone have any tips about how we can get the best rate? We have had a mortgage with the Halifax for over 4.5 years and have never defaulted on a payment.

Don't tell them about your DH yet, see what they offer when they think that you may go elsewhere.

We recently remortgaged with the Alliance & Leicester, at 3.6%,fixed for 2 years with no tie in, they payed all the costs.
We had both gone P/T since arranging our previous mortgage, but this was not a problem as our mortgage was so small, in comparison with the current value of our house.

I think it is more likely to depend on the loan to value ratio than your actual income (provided you can afford repayments of course) and presumably your equity in the property will have increased since you first took out the mortgage. If you have to fill in a new set of forms you should be honest with them in case there is comeback later, but it may not make any difference.

Look around and see what is available and then ask the Halifax to match it. They may well try to better what anyone else is offering.

A word of caution though, if you are now relying on one wage which wouldn't be enough to secure a mortgage with someone else, make sure you can handle the payments if they go up. These low interest rates won't hang around for ever and if the rate went up by 3 or 4% you could easily end up paying hundreds of pounds more each month. You might not get such a low monthly payment if you go for a fixed rate but at least you know that there won't be any nasty shocks around the corner.

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Thanks for the comments. We had our meeting with the halifax and I wsn't all that impressed with what they were offering. I am heartened by your message jac34 although maybe both your part time wages are higher than my full time one! I think I will ring A&L and Nationawide and ask them what the chances are. It can't hurt. If not them we'll have to stick with the Halifax