Abbey Mortgage Offer - Existing customer

shabbychicfan

I am a current Abbey mortgage customer. Because of change of employment etc I need to stay with them. They sent me a letter this week offering to waive ERC's if I wanted to secure a new fix with them now rather than in September.

They have offered me:

2 yr fix @ 3.89% with a £125 fee
3 yr fix @ 4.09 with £524 fee
5 yr fix @ 4.59 with a £324 fee
or 7 yr fix @ 5.39 with a £125 fee

Have asked them to send me paperwork for the 7yr fix but am beginning to wonder if I would be better off on the 5 year fix but don't know how to work it out:rolleyes:

The 7 yr fix appealed because in the same month that that would finish I could take a lump sum from my pension (early retirement) and a reduced pension too.

I have no idea what my LTV is - I bought in Aug 2005 for £218,000 with a 158,000 mtge then added £15k 2 years ago for improvements. Current o/s 167,282

steve237

I wonder if anyone could tell me what I could expect when I ring the Abbey in the next few days?

I am coming to the end of a 2-year tracker (0.34% below base rate) - ends in August this year. It was taken out initially on a repayment basis, but we switched to interest only around 10 months ago as my wife had to have some time off work after spinal surgery and then was inbetween jobs. We never got round to switching back to repayment and our current monthly payments are £34 a month on a £136k mortgage!!

I would say the current LTV is around 80-85%. 19 years on mortgage left on current deal.

What sort of deals do you think the Abbey may offer us? We obviously want to move back to repayment.

Is it possible Abbey may allow us to leave them and go to First Direct for their 2.89% lifetime tracker with no tie-ins? Would be nice to enjoy a low tracker then switch to fixed deal in a few more months. It looks like the base rate is going to stay like this well into next year.

We have never missed a payment and both have good credit scores. However, our joint income has changed (my wife now earns about £7k a year less. Do I need to tell them about this change?

Mrs_Bumble

Joeskeppi wrote: »

What we need is a broker who has the latest rates available. Why they keep their website so out of date is beyond me.

Afraid Abbey are a law unto themselves at the moment, they don't publish the rates that they will offer existing customers as they are likely to be very different from client to client.

Whether you take a short term fixed or long term fixed is really down to your individual circumstances, what the LTV is and what your plans are for the next few years. If you tie into a long fixed and then want to move in a years time then you will face penalties. Do you think your house price will have increased dramatically in a couple of years if you take a short fixed, because if the property price doesn't increase what will your ltv be then and will you be able to remortgage at that time. These questions are for each individual.

steve237

shabbychicfan wrote: »

They have offered me:

2 yr fix @ 3.89% with a £125 fee
3 yr fix @ 4.09 with £524 fee
5 yr fix @ 4.59 with a £324 fee
or 7 yr fix @ 5.39 with a £125 fee

That 7 year fix is quite tempting actually. I might consider one of those if offered!

wackojackouk

I spoke to them this afternoon and got offered

2 Year Fix @ 3.99% + £599 Fee + £125 Conversion Fee
(If done in June and added to mortgage this is reduced to £299)

3 Year Fix @ 4.29% + £0 Fee + £125 Conversion Fee

5 Year Fix @ 4.79% + £399 Fee + £125 Conversion Fee

I didn't ask what our LTV is :doh:but I'm sure we owe around £135k on a property we bought 5 years ago for £170k and is valued anything between that price and £200k.

Are these good rates or can you "push" them for a little extra?

WJUK

petercooper

I signed up here just to share this info..

We put 10% down on a £115k purchase (so had a £103.5k mortgage) two years ago. Now have £103k outstanding for a remaining 33 years. So LTV is about 88% at original value, but given fallen rates we are close to negative equity (so worse off than most of you it seems) Called Abbey up and they offered:

- 1 year fixed at 4.59% and pay £599 fee + £125 conversion (!!!)
- Stay on the SVR

Since I'd read this thread beforehand, I asked if I could pay towards the capital and get a better deal and then two new deals came out of the woodwork:

- 2 year fixed at 4.99% and pay just £125 conversion
- 3 year fixed at 4.99% but pay off 5% capital

Haven't decided what to do yet, but will definitely not take that one year fix. It'll be one of the two latter options..

steve237

Just called the Abbey and was offered the following rates as an existing customer coming off a tracker:

3 year fix - 5.49% - £125 fee
5 year fix - 4.99% - £125 fee

I have LTV of 82%

I was hoping for a 7-year fixed but they weren't able to offer me one.

I am going to hit the comparison sites and see if I can get a better deal on my LTV for 5-10 years fixed. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

System

petercooper wrote: »

- 1 year fixed at 4.59% and pay £599 fee + £125 conversion (!!!)
- Stay on the SVR

Since I'd read this thread beforehand, I asked if I could pay towards the capital and get a better deal and then two new deals came out of the woodwork:

- 2 year fixed at 4.99% and pay just £125 conversion
- 3 year fixed at 4.99% but pay off 5% capital

Haven't decided what to do yet, but will definitely not take that one year fix. It'll be one of the two latter options..

That's exactly what I got offered, although the 3 year had a £599 fee.

Thankfully the doomers did me a favour and scared me into saving up a large pot since last year, so I had the 5% plus some extra ready and waiting to go, I didn't have a problem with paying capital off as I just thought of it as a deposit towards my next place, plus it took a noticable lump off the monthly payments.

You're right though, the 1 year fix is totally pointless.

davidla

steve237 wrote: »

Just called the Abbey and was offered the following rates as an existing customer coming off a tracker:

3 year fix - 5.49% - £125 fee
5 year fix - 4.99% - £125 fee

I have LTV of 82%

Same rates for me as of today - my LTV is a bit closer to 90%. Still not sure whether to accept either though!

steve237

davidla wrote: »

Same rates for me as of today - my LTV is a bit closer to 90%. Still not sure whether to accept either though!

In the end I opted to raise 5% of capital to pay off my mortgage balance (worked out at £6800). This made a 7-year fix available which I have requested papers to sign - at 5.39%

I'm borrowing the £6800 from family and paying it back standing order over 24 months (plus a bit of interest) and paying interest only for the first 2 years, then repayment for the remaining 5 of the 7-year fix.

I wanted to lock into a fixed rate for 7 years. Worried about inflation and the state of the UK borrowing!