First Direct, wheres the catch?

ytfcmad

Can somebody tell me where the catch is with there Life Time Tracker at 3.69% ? No massive fee, and reasonable LTV as well, there MUST be a catch?

socrates

You may not get a lot of answers to this one as FD do not use Mortgage Advisers.

I have banked with them for 18 years on my personal banking side. In the past I had an offset mortgage with them, its very very easy to use unlike the Woolwich or Clydesdale ones. Saying that though the Clydesdale one I took out is now at 2.1% i.e 0.1% over base for the lifetime of the mortgage.

Perhaps one piece of advice for anyone thinking of going for a FD mortgage is to be a customer first and then apply for a mortgage as existing customers mortgages are processed more quickly. Expect to wait 12 weeks.

IMO there will be better products than this available in the coming months so the £150 to move on is not excessive. They are very stringent with the incomes and outgoings but in the current climate who isnt - so if your figures stack up go for it!

cbrpaul

socrates wrote: »

You may not get a lot of answers to this one as FD do not use Mortgage Advisers.

Maybe why they can keep their fees down and offer good deals ,as they dont have to give commision out. !!!

lethal0r

does look an excellent deal. no early repayment charge either - I presume that means you can overpay then.

perhaps interest is just calculated yearly? or perhaps the rate wont go below 3.69% and they believe the base rate will drop even lower?

lisyloo

interest is calculated daily with FD and they pass on cuts the NEXT day.

Previous deals had no minimum level, but you need to check this specific deal for a minimum rate.

Other than that I am not aware of any catches with FD.
I have only recently joined them but they seem genuinely good to me.
I have a BOE+0.49% tracker (currently 2.49%) which is offset and no penalties.

socrates

As a matter of interest (no pun intended) when did you get the 0.49% over base tracker mortgage i.e when did you apply and how long did it take to process etc?

cbrpaul

socrates wrote: »

As a matter of interest (no pun intended) when did you get the 0.49% over base tracker mortgage i.e when did you apply and how long did it take to process etc?

that must have been early 08 !!!

you wont get a deal like that anywhere in the current climate

Been with them for nearly a year myself , and my curent deal ends 31st december 08
im going onto their SVR in Jan 09 , which will then be 3.69% with no fees !!!!

socrates

Yes I think so too - I remember it being 0.99% more recently but at 0.49% over base lifetime tracker I think they would have needed their own printing press to generate the money!!

Incidentally isn't it funny that the word "recently" in the current mortgage/financial world has really started to mean recently.

Organic12

socrates wrote: »

As a matter of interest (no pun intended) when did you get the 0.49% over base tracker mortgage i.e when did you apply and how long did it take to process etc?

I had the telephone thing with them on 12th Oct for the +0.49 lifetime tracker and the funds were drawn down on 1st Dec.

lisyloo

As a matter of interest (no pun intended) when did you get the 0.49% over base tracker mortgage i.e when did you apply and how long did it take to process etc?

I think I took it at the end of September 09.
That deal was recently available but only for a couple of weeks before it was withdrawn.

My mortgage was completed on 27th November but I can't really comment on the timescale because I applied about June time (well in advance), then switched deals and asked them not to complete until end of November as I had penalties, so my timescales would not be representative of how fast they usually work.

So I was lucky to move fast when the deal came up but it is a RECENT deal.
Probably won't get anything like that now though.

socrates

I commend you both - excellent deals in the current climate. I think there will be better deals in six months time especially as today's reports show that we will soon as a nation be paying back more on our mortgages than borrowing, something that has never been known before.