Mortgage Express advice please...

tg75

Just back off holiday to find my mortgage statement. Mortgage Express are letting me move to another lender without paying the £5K ERC. Problem is, my LTV is probably 90% at best, more likely to be 95% though (dont know how much the value of my house has dropped due to the recent bank capers) so Im struggling to find another lender.

Have been reading a few of posts recently re people getting a fair bit of money off their loan to move to another lender.
Do you think it may be worthwhile for me to stick with MEx in the hope that come December (when I come off the fixed rate) they may offer me a similar incentive to get off their books?
Or should I try to jump ship ASAP...the offer ends 30th June though.

Cheers!!!

261_p

I was in the same boat as you,
House bought for £147500 in Jan 08
Mortgage for £139000 fixed 2yrs at 6.59%!! (what was i thinking!?!?)
got the same letter from Mortgage Express about moving to a new provider and not having to pay the ERC, Happy Days i thought... however house value has dropped to around £132000 :eek:
therefore remortgage is at least 95%LTV
No hope of a remortgage at that rate, Mortgage Express obviously have ceased any new business after the Bradford & Bingley debacle.
so am going to be stuck on their base rate for a good while yet
on the plus side 'IF' the BoE rate is the same come Jan 2010 as it is now my monthly replayment will drop from £986 to £459 pcm
better put the difference in a savings account and try and jump ship in a couple of years...!!

Any one else in a similar scenario??

loz123

I also got the letter... I was delighted as I have been trying to sell my house as my income has dropped by 60% over the last 18mths. With this in mind I dropped the asking price of the property due to the offer by mortgage express.
I got an offer on the house in early june and accepted it would clear the mortgage and pay the estate agent and solicitor and i would walk out with no money but the weight of the mortgage payments would be off my mind.
I have next to nothing left to buy my children things after the mortgage is paid.
Anyway due to the current climate it has taken the purchasers a while to get the funding in place which they have now... The sale is due to complete in 2 weeks.

BUT:

Mortgage Express wont extend the redemption offer for me. I have offered to get proof the sale was agreed in early June.. I have offered to prove my change in income.. They are not intrested... While I understand it was a limited offer it seems only the rich have been able to take advantage of it..

To add insult to it all they will waive it if i can get a mortgage with another company if i am borrowing and extra £2000 or if i buy another house and get a mortgage with a new company...

The way i understand it is that the tax payer now owns mortgage express and the company no longer lends money. The aim is to settle the loan book and repay the taxpayers...

If I just hand the keys back and leave the house they will no get the full loan paid off, in auction they would probably loose an extra 30k and then they would chase me for the balance... Then i would go bankrupt... would this be better for the taxpayer????

So why wont the help me, I can clear the loan it seems so stupid to me that they will waive if i get a mortgage for an extra £2k with a new lender... which i cant due to my drop in income...

Its a disgrace