Barclays Bank Base Rate

1jim

Hi
I am thinking about remortgaging to the Barclays Lifetime tracker mortgage which tracks barclays base rate +0.29% for the term of the mortgage.
Currently the barclays base rate is 4.5% (?same as bank of england base rate), I cant find any historical data for the barclays base rate, does anyone know if it has always been the same as the bank of england one or if it has been massivly larger in the last fe years
thanks
Jim

Craig_A

I recently applied for the predecessor of the mortgage you are interested in and had the same concern. I was reassured by the regulars here that the two have been identical since the last ice age. Obviously it could change but, they suggested, it's highly unlikely it will. To be honest it's such a good deal that I thought it worth the risk. If the situation goes against us it'll only cost £275 to get out and remortgage...

1jim

Thanks Craig A
my current mortgage is trackin bank of england base rate +1% so this is mucg better, do you know if they let you make overpayments and do daily interest etc? as couldnt see this on the website
thanks
jim

Craig_A

I presume the small print is largely the same as the deal I applied for. If it is then, yes, they allow unlimited capital repayments and calculate the interest daily. If I were you I'd apply through a broker however. The Woolwich are said to be a pita to deal with directly and they must have quite a backlog of applications to process right now if the amount of people who were talking here about their deals is anything to go by!

stanmoresaver

Craig_A wrote:

The Woolwich are said to be a pita to deal with directly and they must have quite a backlog of applications to process right now if the amount of people who were talking here about their deals is anything to go by!

A backlog of about 300 cases according to my contact- two of my client's deals took 5 days just to get on the tracking system! And they were sent electronically.

1Jim- take a look at this thread- it should help.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=205890

1jim

is there a way to work out the difference in monthly paments between the woolich tracker (at 4.79%) and the nationwide tracker at 4.68%, would be looking at remortgage of 75000 or 76000ish over 18years, just trying to work out if the nationwide is better or not (it has £500ish fees ) which the woolich one doesnt (i think)
thanks
jim

ps any benefit from going through a broker to get these deals? and is so can you reccomend one

Craig_A

Just looked at the Nationwide Lifetime Tracker which is Bank Of England + 0.18% for the term of the mortgage.

It looks very good but incurs a reservation fee of £399. Though If you do not want to pay the fee then the rate rises to BoE +0.48%. I presume that you have to pay for a vaulation and legals on top of this but I could not find details on the site.

Personally the Woolwich deal was better for me (largely because I didnt want to be restricted to a £500/month overpayment limit) but I would sit down with a broker and discuss your individual circumstances. I would be happy to recommend the broker I used but he may be quite a distance from you (I would suggest meeting face to face.)

TangentMan

The nationwide and Woolwich offer KFIs on line. So try that to compare payments.