Remortgage with Abbey

quixonte

Hi All,

My current fixed rate mortgage is due to end in December this year. I decided to call my current lender (Bradford and Bingley through mortgage express) to get an idea of what they would offer me at the end of this period.

They offered me a rate of 6.69 on a three-year fixed with a fee of £499. Wasn't very attractive considering I had 5.34 at the moment. I told them I wasn't going to progress at that amount and the rep said he could pass my details onto there brokers mortgage force to discuss other deals on the market. Received a call about an hour later from one of their brokers and we went through my personal details. He offered me a mortgage with the Abbey at 5.74% on a 3yr fixed with a product fee of £995. This sounded really attractive and he said we could get an agreement in principle now and book this rate. He said he was a whole market no fee broker.

my facts

House value:- 269,000 (according to halifax index)
Mortgage :- 193,000 present approximately 191,000 when I come to remortgage
Salary:- 44,000 (employed)
Mortgage type :- repayment
Term :- coming to the end of a 2 year fixed of a 25 year term.


I am hoping someone can answer some questions for me:-

Questions

1) The booking of a rate - is that possible this far in advance. He said if rates dropped they would just improve my offer, but it wouldn't go up.

2) Mortgage force - I haven't come across them before are they reputable ?

3) He asked me for my bank details - is this normal when going for an agreement in principle ? He also asked the payment date every month.

I asked him and he was very clear that their was no commitment at all. He would send me out a pack on the mortgage (Key facts).

4) My salary has dropped a bit since I got my original mortgage - Abbey's online calculator said I could get 189k. The broker said at my present salary we wouldn't have any problems. I have some savings that I could reduce the mortgage by if they worst happened.

5) I'm going to go and speak to a few lenders and my bank(rbs) to see what they can offer.

6) What else should I be doing to make sure I am in a good position come the end of my fix.

7) The product offered wasn't one I could see on the Abbey website but they did have a lower rate on their site.

Any advice anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

Q

_Andy_

The agreement in principle doesn't secure the rate - the mortgage has been applied for. Hence him asking for bank details.

Income - you may want to check he's disclosed the correct figure to them.

Rates - it is probably a broker product - if there's a better one direct then there's nothing to stop you applying for it directly.

_Andy_

Sorry, earlier post was a bit rushed. In answer to your questions -

quixonte wrote: »

Hi All,


1) The booking of a rate - is that possible this far in advance.

Yep no problems.

2) Mortgage force - I haven't come across them before are they reputable ?

I've not known anyone who's dealt with them but given they've told you they're just doing an AIP when it was a full application it doesn't reflect well on them.

3) He asked me for my bank details - is this normal when going for an agreement in principle ? He also asked the payment date every month.

Depends on the lender - Abbey don't need them for an AIP - but it's clear he's done a full application and not just an AIP.

I asked him and he was very clear that their was no commitment at all. He would send me out a pack on the mortgage (Key facts).

There is no commitment but he shouldn't have submitted a full app unless you wanted to go ahead.

4) My salary has dropped a bit since I got my original mortgage - Abbey's online calculator said I could get 189k. The broker said at my present salary we wouldn't have any problems. I have some savings that I could reduce the mortgage by if they worst happened.

Assuming you have little or no outgoings on other debts this should be fine.

6) What else should I be doing to make sure I am in a good position come the end of my fix.

Careful of how many credit searches are being done (Abbey have already done one)

7) The product offered wasn't one I could see on the Abbey website but they did have a lower rate on their site.

Many lenders offer better rates direct to customers.

quixonte

thanks for the quick response Andy. I'll follow-up with him tomorrow to figure out what he has done.