A&L 1 Year Fixed Deal

lizzymouse

Hi budget dude

i am in exactly the same position as you, offered the one year deal for £599 and told them to stuff it !

if you havent signed on the dotted line yet, ring them again. We've ended up with a 2 year deal at 5.49% no fee. our loan to value is currently probably about 95%.

like you, i prefer to play safe and know where i am for the next couple of years and fix rather than sticking with the svr and hoping it stays low and then having to scramble for a deal when it goes up.

swings and roundabouts - property will stabilise, the recovery will come and prices will eventually rise, we just have to wait several years for it all to happen!

Tassotti

I stilll can't believe rates are this high....I fixed A+L at 4.24% 4 years ago. When my fixed rate ends next year, it will go to 0.75% above B of E rate...ie 1.25%.

Many people are on this deal, so I guess they are trying to recoup their money via you.

Ade

BudgetDude

lizzymouse, thanks for the reply.

That's strange, they only gave us 1.5 year or 2.5 year fixed options... we're waiting for the paperwork to come through on the 1.5 year so we haven't signed anything yet and we have 14 days to mull it over. I'll give them a ring about this 2 year deal and see what they say. Cheers!

Tassotti, I agree that people in our position are being well and truly milked.

Weresmydosh

I have been with A & L since I bought a new build in Oct 2007 with a 2 yr fixed rate that is about -2% below base cannot drop below 2.5% or something like that.
All was fine bought house at 247k put down 75k borrowed 172k payments around £1350 a month at start but came down as interest rates fell
Feb this year made redundant, no pay off ,35K+ a year gone out the door.
First thing I did was contact A & L changed from repayment to interest only £350 a month no problems my wife works(26k) we have £15k rainy day savings.
Today sort out with A & L new mortgage for when this deal ends in Oct they have offered me 4.29% fixed for 2 years interest repayment only paying them £577.56a month, no fees but 3% charge if I pull out early, can overpay £499.00 a month if I wish (things might get better job wise) or up to 10K on the January payment
I do not get any benefits so do gardening and e-bay no earning about £200 a week so building a business in a recession hard work but I will not loose this house to a recession.
I feel I have got a good deal as no one else is going to touch us with my earnings and I am sure they have a right to remove there mortgage at the end of the fixed term if they wish

BudgetDude

I agree that's very nice of them. I assume you have equity in your house? try getting a decent deal out of them if you haven't.

Weresmydosh

Hi
When I first approached them they only offered me 4.99% as I had less than 25% equity in there view, upon questioning this I was informed when I bought the house for 247K and put down 75K it was valued at 225K how ever they were not bothered due to the size of my deposit.
Come to arrange this new mortgage and was told my house now only worth 180K on some valuation system they use I had just had 3 estate agents tell me put it on market at 285K-290K & take no less than 260K, house's sold this year on my estate much smaller than mine for 210K.
Argued the facts with them and told I could have it re-valued by them for £95
Weighed it up risk £95 and loss or risk £95 and pay £93 less a month for two years
paid for valuation came back as worth 225K sufficient equity for the lower rate of mortgage a saving of £2232 less the £95 valuation fee
if you are sure you have been undervalued ask for a revaluation.:j

BudgetDude

Well we're apparently at 110% LTV, we bought the house 2 years ago at 92% LTV repayment mortgage so I'm thinking they've probably got it about right. We certainly wouldn't have 90% LTV or less to qualify for anything competitive so it's not worth throwing valuation cash away.

My problem with A&L is that they offer crappy deals for existing customers in this position even though they have a solid payment history. Oh well...

BudgetDude

Sorry for the gigantic thread bump but I thought some may find this useful and I'm looking for a bit of advice really.

Our A&L mortgage is now with Santander and we're due to come off our 18 month fixed rate at the end of March (as shown above) we're still in negative equity and have around 110% LTV still. Currently we're paying 5.49% and have just been offered a 5.99% 2 year fixed deal no product fee, which is ideal for us as budgeting is definitely necessary.

If we don't take the deal then we will go to 4.99% on their SVR which is tempting but the way inflation is looking I think an interest rate rise is imminent which will push our payments anyway...

What would you do?

Thrugelmir

Take the 5.99% 2 year fix and continue overpaying the mortgage as much as you can afford to.

getmore4less

Fooled me for a bit with the A&L talk, till I saw the dates.

Interesting thread in retrospect,

They can play with those at this level of equity and such a lousy SVR.

If budget is that tight then you have little option other than to fix.

Paying 1% less you would build a buffer fund to cover the rises over 1% but is that going to be enough over the 2 years that your call.