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Original poster

Help! I've messed up my remortgage

36 replies

gentlesea · 30/05/2023 21:41

So my current fix ends tomorrow and I have a new one for a 2 year fix in place with my current lender to start in June. But all this recent news about inflation not budging is alarming me and I'd like to switch to a 5 year fix, again by doing a product transfer with my current lender. They're telling me it'll take a few days to cancel the rate and only then can I apply for the new one. I'm worried that during this time the rate for the 5 year fix will go up. Also I'll probably be on the SVR for a little while. Has anyone done this? Switched products during a rate switch? How long did it take for it to go through?

Also, I arranged the initial product transfer via a broker. While they don't charge (they take a commission from the bank), will I be charged by them if I cancel and try to do the rate switch myself online as apparently this is quicker?

Or should I just carry on with the 2 year fix now that's it's just about to start and hope for the best in 2 years? I am worried about rates going up in the days it'll take to sort this!

OP posts:
OhDoh · 30/05/2023 21:58

Personally I would just stay on the 2 year. They are saying over the next two years they should decline slightly.. but who knows tbh.

Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:03

Yeah, I do wonder if I'll be putting myself through this extra stress and hassle just to lock myself in for longer to a higher rate...

If only I could just cancel and secure the new rate at the same time but it feels risky to not be able to secure the new rate for a few days while I wait for the old one to be cancelled.

OP posts:
Unsuredad123 · 30/05/2023 22:05

Some friends mortgage broker was advising them to go svr due to it being thought that interest rates are likely to level out and start to go down in the next 12 months.

Calmdown14 · 30/05/2023 22:11

You may well find you can't get the same rate now you have already secured .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65752400

I wouldn't mess about if you have a reasonable rate secured.

Stock image of a couple looking paperwork at home

Nearly 800 mortgage deals pulled amid uncertainty over rates

Lenders are "reassessing" their offers amid concerns about how high interest rates will go.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65752400

ArdeteiMasazxu · 30/05/2023 22:11

I wouldn't sweat it. No one really knows what rates are going to do over the next 2-5 years but the 2 year rate fixes are based on appropriately what's most likely to be the average rate over the next 2 years and the 5 year rate fixes are based on appropriately what's most likely to be the average rate over the next 5 years. You're really not going to make much of a saving switching from one to the other unless you have insider information that one or other rate is massively less accurate than the other. Assuming that you are as much in the dark as the rest of us, it's more important that you rearrange the deal (which you have done) than the minutiae of which duration of deal you go for.

Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:12

Oh wow that's interesting @Unsuredad123. It's so hard to know what to do at the moment!

OP posts:
KievLoverTwo · 30/05/2023 22:12

I have been keeping an eye on rates for the last few months. In the last four weeks, 5 year fixes have gone up and 2 and 3 have gone down.

ArdeteiMasazxu · 30/05/2023 22:12

Sorry about approximately autoincorrecting to appropriately

Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:14

Yes I read that piece earlier @Calmdown14 so that's why I'm worried about faffing around trying to get a new fix and then it jumping up in the meantime. I mean a product switch with the same lender shouldn't take too much time but anything could happen in a few days!

OP posts:
NewNovember · 30/05/2023 22:16

What rate do you have secured?

Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:17

I've not actually rearranged it yet @ArdeteiMasazxu! I'm just wondering now if it's worth going to the effort to do so and lose the rate I have secured already. The difference between the 2 and 5 year is £35 a month I think so you're right it's not a huge difference.

OP posts:
Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:18

It's 4.7 @NewNovemberfor 2 years. The 5 year would be 4.3.

OP posts:
CrapBucket · 30/05/2023 22:20

I’d stick with the 2 year fix. In 2 years you probably won’t mind if it wasn’t the perfect decision but if it fell through just now you’d mind in 2 days!!

AllTheChaos · 30/05/2023 22:27

KievLoverTwo · 30/05/2023 22:12

I have been keeping an eye on rates for the last few months. In the last four weeks, 5 year fixes have gone up and 2 and 3 have gone down.

Oh interesting. So it looks like lenders are thinking that over the next few years rates are going to get higher than they are now, then?

Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:29

AllTheChaos · 30/05/2023 22:27

Oh interesting. So it looks like lenders are thinking that over the next few years rates are going to get higher than they are now, then?

Show quote history

Although 5 years have been cheaper than 2/3 years so does that mean they're all around the same level now?

OP posts:
Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:30

CrapBucket · 30/05/2023 22:20

I’d stick with the 2 year fix. In 2 years you probably won’t mind if it wasn’t the perfect decision but if it fell through just now you’d mind in 2 days!!

You're probably right - if I tried to get a new rate (because the 5 year is cheaper) and it suddenly jumped up while I was reapplying I'd be so annoyed.

OP posts:
SlipSlidinAway · 30/05/2023 22:32

Wow - no way would I be fixing for 5 years at the moment.

KievLoverTwo · 30/05/2023 22:34

AllTheChaos · 30/05/2023 22:27

Oh interesting. So it looks like lenders are thinking that over the next few years rates are going to get higher than they are now, then?

Show quote history

You'd think. That's also what I thought. Then I read five year fixes were the most popular mortgage product in April, so now I think they have simply put them up because they are currently popular.

Hawkins0001 · 30/05/2023 22:38

Is this basically the 2008 mortgage crisis but for 2023 version ?

Dibbydoos · 30/05/2023 22:46

Your broker will be the quickest way of sorting this, go back to them.

Personally, I'd take a 2yr fix and see.

My fix ends in March. I am dreading the interest rate situ then and I took a 5 Yr fix at 2.17% as well ie we'll over the odds of a 2 Yr fix...!

Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 22:55

Dibbydoos · 30/05/2023 22:46

Your broker will be the quickest way of sorting this, go back to them.

Personally, I'd take a 2yr fix and see.

My fix ends in March. I am dreading the interest rate situ then and I took a 5 Yr fix at 2.17% as well ie we'll over the odds of a 2 Yr fix...!

I spoke to my bank directly and they said if I asked my broker to sort it out it could take up to 2 weeks!

Definitely start looking into new deals 6 months before your current fix ends! I left it all to the last minute and now I'm in this mess!

OP posts:
Truestorypeeps · 30/05/2023 23:09

In terms of the UK interest rate forecast for the next 5 years, the BoE itself gave forecasts as far as 2026 in its May report.

The bank saw interest rates at 4.4% (lower than the current rate) in the second quarter of 2023, where the rate was projected to stay in Q2 2024, before falling down to 3.8% in Q2 2025. In 2026, the bank saw the rate at 3.6%.

In its UK long-term interest rate forecast as of 12 May, ING saw policy rates staying at 4.5% throughout 2023, until the second quarter of 2024, when it predicted rates to be cut to 4%, followed by cuts to 3.5% and 3% in the following quarters. In 2025, the bank saw UK interest rates at 2.5%.

Echoing this sentiment, Scotiabank’s forecast as of 28 April showed interest rates at 4.25% in 2023, and at 3.25% in 2024.

...2 year fixed is where I'd stick.

Original poster
gentlesea · 30/05/2023 23:18

Thanks @Truestorypeeps - this is really helpful!

OP posts:
Truestorypeeps · 30/05/2023 23:33

gentlesea · 30/05/2023 23:18

Thanks @Truestorypeeps - this is really helpful!

No worries :-) thought it might give you come confidence in the plans you've already laid.

Twiglets1 · 31/05/2023 05:43

gentlesea · 30/05/2023 21:41

So my current fix ends tomorrow and I have a new one for a 2 year fix in place with my current lender to start in June. But all this recent news about inflation not budging is alarming me and I'd like to switch to a 5 year fix, again by doing a product transfer with my current lender. They're telling me it'll take a few days to cancel the rate and only then can I apply for the new one. I'm worried that during this time the rate for the 5 year fix will go up. Also I'll probably be on the SVR for a little while. Has anyone done this? Switched products during a rate switch? How long did it take for it to go through?

Also, I arranged the initial product transfer via a broker. While they don't charge (they take a commission from the bank), will I be charged by them if I cancel and try to do the rate switch myself online as apparently this is quicker?

Or should I just carry on with the 2 year fix now that's it's just about to start and hope for the best in 2 years? I am worried about rates going up in the days it'll take to sort this!

Why on Earth did you involve a broker if you wanted to stay with your current lender? You could have just got a quote from your current lender and compared it yourself to what other lenders were quoting for their 2 & 5 year Fixed rates. You’ve over complicated the situation unnecessarily.