Portman mortgages

Ben_Baileys

Just looking at mortgage rates at the moment and Portman's rates seem much better than others. Am I missing something?

Their discount rate is 4.19% with a 499 fee
Their 2 year tracker rate is 4.29% with a 299 fee
Their 2 year fixed rate is 4.59% with a 599 fee.

Am very tempted by the tracker rate. Anyone got any comments on Portman or these rates?

herbiesjp

IT does depend on what you are looking for from the products i.e. flexibility, overpayments, daily interest etc

What is important to you from the schemes you have spotted?

Ben_Baileys

Thanks Herbie. We're flexible about flexibility and overpayments - it would be nice to be able to overpay, but it's not necessary. As FTBs our main priority is simply a low rate for a couple of years.

What would the effect of daily interest be? How can I find out if Portman is daily?

MarkyMarkD

If you aren't going to overpay, the impact of daily interest is trivial in the early years, and NIL if you are on interest only.

Portman's rates are good because (IIRC) you can't switch to new customer products once your discount/fix ends. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, in this statement, experts).

ManAtHome

Portman loan products are good because they have cr4p savings rates and as others have said maybe some restrictions - check the T&Cs VERY carefully...

payless

If you aren't going to overpay, the impact of daily interest is trivial in the early years,

not that trival.... get a full illustration for various deals ( also ask fro capital reduction breakdown, or shedule- not found on all the lenders own KF illustrtaions, but available from some other sources ) , and make sure you look at both the monthly payments ( annual interest is higher than daily interest - even at same rate) ... but also capitial repaid is slightly higher on the annual deal

Ben_Baileys

Thanks for your helpful comments.

Well we are going to go interest only at the start just so we can get settled and use the extra money to set ourselves up before switching to repayment.

I think you could be right MarkyMarkD - I think their offers are for new customers and existing customers moving home. So that'll restrict us meaning that if we remortgage in 2 years we'll have to do it with a different lender. That's got to be a consideration here although that wouldn't necessarily be too bad.

Looking at the T&Cs it suggests that it is quite flexible and allows overpayments of up to 10% per year. Also says there is an early repayment charge of 3% up till the end of the discounted period. I presume then that after that there is no charge. We don't intend to sell the house before the end of that period so I guess that shouldn't be a problem for us.

So all in all this is looking like a fairly good option.

Any other comments?

herbiesjp

Well it could be - it all depends on whether or not you meet their other criteria based on property type, income, oustanding debts etc?

modgit

We've always (16 years) had a mortgage with the Staffordshire, who are now the Portman, we've moved house 3 times, and changed from one deal to another and never had any problems. When your offer period ends, they have a retention department to offer you a new one, no, it's obviously not as good as the new customer ones, but we find them still better than the hassle of changing lender.
Our last one finished in December and they have given us 2 year fixed at 4.75% with no arrangement fee, and 10% overpayment without penalty each year which we were pleased with.

HTH

MarkyMarkD

modgit wrote:

When your offer period ends, they have a retention department to offer you a new one, no, it's obviously not as good as the new customer ones, but we find them still better than the hassle of changing lender.

You say "obviously", but it's NOT obvious.

If you take your mortgage from the right lender in the first place, you can choose from ANY new customer product at the end of the initial deal, saving the hassle of remortgaging and saving money too.

If you choose a lender who you know, from the outset, will only offer you a second-rate loan in a few years' time, you are committing yourself to either paying slightly over the odds, or remortgaging, at that point ... so if you consider the long-term cost, it's probably better choosing a lender who doesn't operate in a "new customers only" manner, which includes many big players (but not Halifax or Abbey, and not Portman as this thread reveals).