Yorkshire BS

clairehi

Hi all!
My fixed rate deal with A&L ends in April next year. I am keen to secure a 5 year fix and the YBS 5 year fix @5.49% looks attractive (72% ltv, 2.6 x joint incomes). this would be affordable and give us peace of mind.

am somewhat worried this kind of deal may not be available nearer the time to remortgage, even though base rates look to decrease....

I am wondering whether to try and secure the YBS deal asap as it is the best deal I have seen in the last couple of months and I am concerned it may be closed soon if there is a lot of demand. are their offers valid for 6 months - if not this may be a moot point. what are others doing?

Baz_2

If you complete the online application and ring them up the next day to pay the fee, the maortgage is secured for 6 months.

However aren't the fees on the 5.49% high? Woudl it not be better going for the 5.59% 5 years fix? Plus I dont think the 5.49% 5 year fix gives you fee legals and valuation like the 5.59%.

Just be careful which you go for.

However I don't think you will be able to go for either as its too far away for you. But ring them, you never know.

Edit - Ive just looked and it says this

Mortgage offer and completion
To qualify for one of our mortgages, any mortgage offer that we may make has to be issued within three months of the date of your application and your mortgage must be completed within six months of the date of the offer.

So you may qualify after all if you apply now but dont pay your fee for a few months to delay the offer and then you will be in the 6 months of the offer., But I woudl suggest it may be the 5.59% one you want.

clairehi

thanks Baz
as it is a large loan, the lower interest rate works out cheaper for us over the period of the fix (according to moneysupermarket).
I dont want to be panicked into making a hasty decision but I wonder if it would be worth applying now to put a stake in the ground and delaying paying the fee, that might give us a bit of time to see how things are panning out.

Baz_2

Actually I think you need to pay the fee to get the rate guaranteed. I'm not sure how you would delay the offer period enough so that the 6 months would fit your time frame.

You may just have to ask them if theres anything you can do.

The upfront fees you would lose if you apply and back out are only £195 (I think, again ask them to make sure) so it may even be worth taking a hit on that if things get better closer to April.

Also do make sure moneysupermarket have added in the legal and valuation fees, which are not included in your rate choice. The upfront fee is also £995 not £495. I don't know what the legal and valuation fees will be as they don't say anywhere obvious.

If I was you, I wouldn't panic and I would stop looking until at least November, if not January 09. You are too early really to be applying and you are just going to chew yourself up about it if rates go up and you miss better deals when in reality theres very little you can do about anything right now anyway. This forum is awful for glorifying bad news and making people anxious, when in reality nobody knows which way the banks will go between Nov and April next year.

Ignore the doom and gloom merchants.

clairehi

thank you for the advice, should probably ban myself from comparison sites for the next month at least!

_dave__4

clairehi wrote: »

as it is a large loan, the lower interest rate works out cheaper for us over the period of the fix (according to moneysupermarket).

You could check the figures at this online calculator...

http://calc-calc-calc.net/get/calc/Mortgage-Comparison/

For instance, comparing (1) a fee of £995 with an interest rate of 5.49% against (2) a fee of £495 with an interest rate of 5.59% (using a 20 year repayment term), the calculator shows the threshold to be at about a loan of £147,300 :-

http://calc-calc-calc.net/get/calc/Mortgage-Comparison/?L=147300&I1=5.49&Yrs1=5&SVR1=7&F1=995&Term1=20&I2=5.59&Yrs2=5&SVR2=7&F2=495&Term2=20

[£147,300 is the level of loan where the total payments shown over the 5 years coincide, so the lower interest rate mortgage would probably be cheaper (over the 5 years) for a loan above £147,300.]

clairehi

thanks Dave, yes we are over the threshold where the lower rate is better for us.
we have the option to go onto a lifetime bbr tracker (+.99%) at no cost but if interest rates stayed the same or dropped by less than 0.5%, the fixed rate would still be cheaper, and we would prefer the certainty.

simran_2

Can i please ask one question on these calculations. The payment term is 20 yrs but the fixed rate is for 5 yrs so should not all calculations be based on 5 yrs as after that i guess you would be again thinking of moving your mortgage and not paying the SVR.

_dave__4

simran wrote: »

Can i please ask one question on these calculations. The payment term is 20 yrs but the fixed rate is for 5 yrs so should not all calculations be based on 5 yrs as after that i guess you would be again thinking of moving your mortgage and not paying the SVR.

Hi simran,

Yes, you're right...

The calcs from that link appear to give figures at the end of the 5 year period; I think the 20 year term is just used to calculate the monthly payment (on a repayment basis).
So for instance, £995 fee paid upfront plus 5 years' payments of around £1,012 per month, is £61,741 (I guess it must be more like £1,012.43 per month!).

Equally, £495 fee paid upfront plus 5 years' payments of around £1,021 per month, is also £61,741 (I guess this must be more like £1,020.77 per month).

Markyt

Re: Baz,

YBS aren't currently taking applications via the website - customers are being redirected to the branches instead. The website was getting swamped this week, presumably from the HBOS fallout. Keep an eye on it though as online apps will be switched on again as soon as things settle down.