Porting a mortgage

[chocolatiers]

Hi, I've just found out that it's going to cost me about £12k just to move my mortgage to a lower amount. I'm selling my £500k house and buying around £170k (through no choice of my own, but that's a whole other thread). Has anyone had any experience of this fee being waived/minimised/spread out, just anything at all. I called my mortgage provider and the guy on the phone was clearly not interested at all and just made me feel stupid and awful. I'm absolutely devastated to be honest, it's so much money I can't even believe it.

I would speak to a mortgage advisor/broker. They may have creative ideas and good ones will help you port mortgages (presumably in the hope of future business)

Unfortunately if it’s an early repayment charge you’re talking about it’s likely there’s not much you can do about it, but id speak to someone impartial to be sure.

Shit, that's what it is. Sorry. It is a 5 year fixed term so it's an early repayment change. I'm screwed aren't I?!

We also lost about £5k to an early repayment charge which I felt was sold incorrectly 🤷🏽‍♀️. I don't think there is much you can do apart from hold on to the property for the five years

I wish I could do that, I'm not going to be able to pay the mortgage soon, I have no choice but to sell my house. Thanks for the help though.

Check the conditions of the early repayment charge. The percentage we are stung by decreases each year so if this is the same for you might be worth seeing if you are close to the end of a year and waiting.

I've worked for mortgage providers and IME they won't waive the early redemption charge. Unfortunately it is all very clearly set out in your mortgage offer and is a risk with having a fixed rate mortgage. I think you just have to pay it and put it out of your mind.

Thanks everyone. I know, if I can manage until December it'll be less but it's whether or not I can wait that long. I'm just going to have to suck it up, I signed up for it it's my responsibility. It was just the shock I think? I had no idea it was even a "thing" and it's literally just the latest thing in my life to make me think I have REALLY pissed someone off in a previous life.

How much will it go down to in Dec? Will you be mortgage free when you sell? If so I’d be tempted to pay it and move on, sounds like you’ve had a rough time of it. All the best

I'll be paying 4% on the difference between £400k and £85k (will possibly be more than £85) until the 30/11/19 and then 3% from the 1st. The thing is I WANT to move before then, this house is huge and expensive and full of awful memories everywhere I look. Plus my mortgage payment is huge every month and I could do without having to use my savings for it. I need that for the rest of the mess my ex left me in. Honestly it's like from bad to worse. 😭😂

So you’ll save £3k by waiting but potentially be paying out more for your savings on the mortgage in the time?

Honestly I would just put it down to one of those things, if it were me. Having some liquid funds in case of emergency is important. I know it stings.

Wishing you all the best in your new life!

We used a broker this week for something relatively similar. We are selling for 285k, buying a house for 500k and have a mortgage for 110k. The building society couldn't seem to fathom what this was exactly but the broker had it sorted within 3 days so that would be my advice. A good one is brilliant

Three months mortgage payments will be £4200 so yeah, I guess just suck it up!

I did that recently!! Don’t despair quite yet :-)
I ported part of the existing mortgage to my new property (divorce) and in my case Natwest waived the early repayment charge for the percentage which I moved and took out with them again (a new 5 year fixed). All in all saved me nearly 3 grand. I used a mortgage adviser, highly recommend using one. In Scotland if that helps

Oh @Toodeloo that makes me feel a little bit better. Thanks so much.

And special thanks to you Brain I'll be sure to get right on that friendly offer. 👌🏻

@chocolatiers its not with Santander by any chance is it? I'm having exactly the same issue with them but fortunately (I suppose) the current fixed term expires on 5th October so I can repay it from 3rd. Even to complete on new house on 2nd October would have incurred an ERP of 6% on the total! By porting the mortgage I get charged 6% on the difference between old and new mortgage.

Absolutely nothing that I can do. Computer says no. Apparently Santander are well known for this. I second the advice of finding a mortgage broker - a good one!!

I’m also going to be stung with an ERC. I remortgaged with my same provider and didn’t notice it in the details. My fault but still painful.

It's not @Blobby10 it's Natwest. I'll definitely be using a broker, my estate agents put me in touch with their guy and he's been great so far.

@chocolatiers I nearly went to NatWest - sounds like I dodged a bullet there! Santander have definitely lost my custom once this is over. I'm moving onto an offset mortgage - it's not going to make a huge difference as I don't have masses of savings but I figure that every little helps these days!

Bear in mind that if you sell your property for more than £12k than the outstanding mortgage you're not really losing out ( ignoring fees etc), so just pass the early redemption fee onto your buyer.

I think the early repayment charge is payable for the amount the mortgage is reducing by which is surely lesser than paying to end that mortgage completely. Maybe speak with a mortgage advisor who can tell you if it's cheaper to port it and pay the 12k or to pay the full repayment charge if you're able to get a way better mortgage deal elsewhere. If you can't afford the 12k is it possible to keep a mortgage 12k bigger than you need for the new house just to cover this fee?

Thanks all. Sorry @Neet90 I'm not good at this at all, so you mean if I wanted to borrow £50k for example, to see if I can borrow £62k and then technically that's the 12 covered?

@chocolatiers I honestly have no clue as have never ported a mortgage before but I don't know if that would be possible. If they wouldn't want to lend more than the property you are buying is worth could you reduce your deposit so you had the 12k. I would definitely get a mortgage advisor as they might know what yoir options realistically are and what would cost less overall.

@chocolatiers exactly that if your new property will support the lend LTV wise.

Just as an aside if you are in a fixed or tracker most lenders will have early repayment charges, and most also charge that if you pay more than 10% extra off per year.

You'll find that you won't have erc if you are on standard variable rate, which is typically around 2% higher than a fixed rate.

99.8% will not waive that charge apart from in exceptional circumstances, such as their error or death of co-owner, and even then it is rare.