Stay on Lender's Standard Variable rate - good idea?

dazbigg

happybroker wrote: »

Don't quite follow your question, do you mean a 4 year mortgage with a 5 year product, if so i doubt they would do that, or a 5 year product on a 7 year term, if so that would be fine but you may be limited to the amount of overpayments you can make.

Hi HB,
The product is for a 5 year tracker. I want to know if Halifax will allow me to set the whole term of the mortgage over 5 years also in order to pay it off after that time.
They also do another product which tracks for the "whole term". They may say I need to take that product instead.
Basically is there usually a minimum term on any product or is any length of term allowed (as long as it is at least the length of the product being sold?)

Thanks

dazbigg

happybroker wrote: »

Don't quite follow your question, do you mean a 4 year mortgage with a 5 year product, if so i doubt they would do that, or a 5 year product on a 7 year term, if so that would be fine but you may be limited to the amount of overpayments you can make.

P.S.
Thanks anyway, HB, for letting me know about this 5 year retention at 6.49%. Looks like they told brokers in advance cos it only appeared on their website in the last few days.

stevesuk

dazbigg wrote: »

for letting me know about this 5 year retention at 6.49%. Looks like they told brokers in advance cos it only appeared on their website in the last few days.

Excusing my ignorance of all these terms (first time poster!), but what is a 5 year retention?

We are currently with the Halifax on a low fixed rate which expires at the end of next month. Our property is worth ~ £400k, but we only need to borrow £65k. With that kind of loan to value ratio, you would think we would be the kind of customer they wanted to keep?

However, I phoned this morning and they seem to want to offer us 6.2% fixed for 3 years at a cost of £1999!

I'd be much happier to fix at 6.49% and pay no fees.

But I can't find any mention of this rate (with no fees at least) on the Halifax website. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm only thinking of fixing because I'm worried what will happen if the mortgage rate shoots up to 15% or something. Is this being over paranoid, and perhaps we'd also be better stick to the SVR, or look at a tracker?

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve.

Alikay

Our Nationwide tracker comes to an end this month, so we've decided to stay on their SVR of 6.49%. We should have a bit of spare cash available for a few months, so plan to make overpayments of around £100 a month, then review the situation. A crystal ball would be really handy though!

happybroker

retention rates are what lenders have on offer to their clients to try and keep them from moving.

you can organise this through a broker if you have one and they will also have a look to see if there is anything more appealing out there (assuming they are whole of market).

I think 15% is a wee bit pessimistic but if you are genuinely worried about interest rates then fixing is for you I would of thought.

Good luck

stevesuk

happybroker wrote: »

retention rates are what lenders have on offer to their clients to try and keep them from moving.

Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated.

Do retention deals have to be arranged via a broker, or can I personally arrange this with the Halifax myself by ringing up and saying "I'm moving lenders"?

Wish I had a crystal ball to know where the rates will be in 5 years time

dazbigg

stevesuk wrote: »

Excusing my ignorance of all these terms (first time poster!), but what is a 5 year retention?

We are currently with the Halifax on a low fixed rate which expires at the end of next month. Our property is worth ~ £400k, but we only need to borrow £65k. With that kind of loan to value ratio, you would think we would be the kind of customer they wanted to keep?

However, I phoned this morning and they seem to want to offer us 6.2% fixed for 3 years at a cost of £1999!

I'd be much happier to fix at 6.49% and pay no fees.

But I can't find any mention of this rate (with no fees at least) on the Halifax website. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm only thinking of fixing because I'm worried what will happen if the mortgage rate shoots up to 15% or something. Is this being over paranoid, and perhaps we'd also be better stick to the SVR, or look at a tracker?

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve.

Steve,
The 6.49% for 5 years with no product fee is on the 5 year TRACKER product. Go on to the "existing Halifax customer" link under mortgages and it is on the right hand side of the page under the blue link for 5 year tracker mortgage.
Darren

beecher

stevesuk wrote: »

However, I phoned this morning and they seem to want to offer us 6.2% fixed for 3 years at a cost of £1999!
.

Have a look at http://www.halifax.co.uk/mortgages/newdeal.asp
yourself and see which deals is best for you - the mortgage calculator at the bottom is quite helpful.

There's a 6.45% 3 year fix for £699 which would be a better deal for you, or there's different rates of trackers with lower fees too, ie 6.19% for £699, though it'd only take one base rate increase for that to be comparable with the fixed rate.