Porting mortgage/using a broker

[misty252]

Hoping to put flat on market soon. It's the first time we've sold a property so a bit confused about the process.

We're at the beginning of a new 2 year fixed mortgage deal but will need to borrow more to move. The bank have said just to go on their website and use the mortgage calculator as a guide to what we can borrow, and then apply once we've made an offer and had it accepted, but I would like clearer advice in advance.

Is it worth using a mortgage broker such as London and Country? Or the estate agent's own broker? Will they be able to help even if I'm not planning on switching lenders? Switching lenders would incur a fee so want to avoid that. Thanks

Personally I don't think there is any point in using a broker if you can't change lenders.

Sorry I should have clarified that - the only use possibly would be that a new lender would give you such a good rate for say 2 years than the saving you'd make on your current mortgage would be higher than the penalty fee you'd incur in paying off your current mortgage within the 2 year fixed period.

Thank you. It just seems a bit risky going as far as making an offer without having a clear mortgage in principle etc, but what you say makes sense.

Who's your lender?
Call them and ask for a decision in principle if you want one. Just bare in mind that will mean a credit check and is usually only valid for up to 3 months. If you just want to know how much you can borrow at this stage without a decision in principal then use their on line calculator, it will be accurate as it will use the same formula as they use for your application.

And I agree with pp, there's no point going through a broker if you plan to port.

Santander. When I spoke to them to get the new fixed term deal, they said that they won't do a mortgage in principle and that the online calculator serves that purpose.

Well that's a bit rubbish. I'd prefer something a bit more concrete too tbh.

It might depend on who your mortgage is with, some companies will only deal with brokers.

We have been looking into porting a mortgage recently and Birmingham Midshires who we are with, would only deal with the broker.

The broker said that porting a mortgage is almost the same process as applying for a new mortgage as they re-check your circumstances to check you are still eligible. You would also still have to pay for a survey on the new place so they can check they are happy to lend against the new house.

The other thing to consider is that uou will effectively have two separate mortgages that end at different times. This might not be too much of an issue if you have only just taken out the 2 year deal and got another 2 year deal. But say it takes 3 months now to find and buy somewhere, your original mortgage rate would expire 4/5 months before your new one. You could then be left paying quite a high rate on that one for a few months while you wait for the other one to expire so you can consolidate them into one new mortgage.

Thank you. Argh - it's very complicated isn't it. I might give L&C a call on the off chance they'll handle some of the paperwork.

Misty - we have recently sold our house, and wanted to port our Santander mortgage to the new property. The adviser my husband spoke to on the phone said it wouldn't be possible. We get a broker in and suddenly, not only is it possible, but we have a much better deal.

The broker didn't cost us anything. I can only conclude that Santander are utter morons

That's interesting Tootsie.. yes I am inclined to agree! Might be worth using an advisor then to take some of the stress away.

I have had several experiences like Tootsie and would always use an IFA / broker. They have access to many more products than what is promoted to the public.