Mortgage advice.....

qyzge88

Hi all,

Maybe someone can help me, I am currently on interest only 4.75% fixed with Halifax on an £80,000 mortgage. This % is ending this month, so I need something lined up for the 1st August, otherwise its 6.75% standard variable rate.

Called Halifax to discuss switching to a repayment mortgage for the remaining term of 22yrs 10mnths. Best offer was 4.99% tracker for three years. Penalties 3% first year then 2% and 1% following years.

Had advice from local mortgage broker best offer 4.79% tracker with woolwhich for the whole term 22yrs 10mnths. He wants £300 fee. There is no arrangement fee with woolwhich but must pay £300 for survey, which is refundable.

Is this a good offer or can I get better?

At the mo waiting for L&C to come back to me with something.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

mleonard79

Hi Edi,
I'm not a mortgage expert in any way but I would think that a £300 fee for a broker is on the high side when you get lots of fees free ones out there who could guide you through the woolwich deal if that's what you wanted to pick. I was offered the same deal by Chase de vere brokers and they weren't going to charge me a fee as they would get comission from Woolwich. What did L&C offer you?

tomstickland

I've got a 4.39% fixed rate repayment mortgage, via L&C. Fixed rates have gone up recently, so I guess that somewhere just over 4.5% is as good as it gets at the moment. See what L&C find you; I reckon they'll beat your current offers.

Dan29

I don't think Halifax offer their best deals to existing customers, so you're almost certainly better off moving to another lender.

Robert_Sterling

Interest only at 6.75% £5400 p.a. for 3 Years £16,200

Interest only at 4.99% £3992 p.a. for 3 years £11,976 + Penalties

Interest only at 4.79% £3832 p.a. for 3 years £11,496
Additional Payment £00,300
The £300 is due on day one not £100 p.a. so add £00,014

---

£11,804

Saving approx £62 p.a. or £186 over 3 years.



THis is not financial advice it is just "sum" suggestions.

AndrewSmith

Nationwide B/Soc 2 year tracker 4.37%
£598 set up fees added to the loan, free valuation and Legals
£90 Exit fees, ERP 1.5% for 2 years
£460.01 pm 23 year repayment mortgage
£291.33 pm Interest Only

Alliance & Leicester 2 year Tracker 4.49%
£554 Set up fees added to the loan, Valuation £250, free legals.
£295 exit fees, ERP 3% for 2 years
£465.33 pm 23 year repayment mortgage
£299.33 pm Interest Only

Darlington Building Society 3 year discount 4.54%
£449 Setup Fees added to the loan, Valuation £195, free legals.
£100 exit fees, ERP 3% for 3 years
£467.56 pm 23 year repayment mortgage
£302.67 pm Interest Only

Nottingham Building Society 5 year Discount 4.65%
£495 Set Up fees payable up front, free valuation, free legals.
£175 exit fees, ERP discount to be repaid within 5 years
£478.07 pm 23 year repayment mortgage
£310.00 pm Interest Only

Cheltenham & Gloucester 2 year tracker 4.64%
£699 setup fees added to the loan, free valuation, free legals.
£225 exit charges, NO ERP
£472.03 pm 23 year repayment mortgage.
£309.33 pm Interest Only

Marsden Building Society 4 year discount 4.79%
£399 setup fees £299 added, £100 upfront, free valuation, free legals.
£150 exit charges, NO ERP
£478.79 pm 23 year repayment mortgage.
£319.33 pm Interest Only


Just a few for you making the following assumptions:

£80,000 repayment mortgage 23 year term no more than 80% loan to value. ERP = early redemption penalty.

Not an exhausive list but something to consider.

Andy

mleonard79

Hi Tomstickland,
I've phoned L&C recently to see what they could offer and in fixed rates they couldn't offer me anything better than 5.29% (5 yr fixed) so 4.39% is awesome! The OP probably doesn't need so long a fix though and I've seen on their website that they have fixes from 4.49% and up (huge fees mind you.) You can get two/three year trackers for much lower though (l&c are advertising 4.15% for a 2 yr one at the mo.) I don't think there's a cheaper lifetime tracker than that Woolwich 4.79% out there but I've heard some bad things about their service. I guess it all depends on what she needs.

Andrew - what do you think about the 5.29% fixed for 5 years, is there any better with low fees in your opinion ? Thanks.

tomstickland

I've got a 2 year fix, 5 year fixes are higher from what I've seen. I missed out on rates as low as 4.2% - they dissappeared in the 6 weeks between looking and acting.

mleonard79

Yeah pretty much similar has happened to me. I started looking in April/May and saw 5 yr fixes at 4.6 and 4.7 but didn't have the time to sort it out then and now that I'm getting round to it they've all shot up to over 5%! Sods law. Good that you managed to get 4.39% though. There's only 5 years left on this mortgage so a 2 or 3 year fix is no good. Think I'll just need to go with the 5.29% and kick myself for not getting it done sooner!

AndrewSmith

The 4.15% you are talking about is the Dunfirmline Building society.

Fees are quite high though at £699 booking fee added to the loan and £515 valuation / legal fees upfront (depending on your proerty value.)
Also the ERP is a massive 4% within the 2 years.

In my opinion the fees and ERP make it negligable as a good product for the OP.

mleonard79:

What size mortgage and what value of property?

I will then post what is available today.

Andy

mleonard79

Hi Andrew,
Yeah I thought as much as regards the 4.15%, anything that low's got to be loaded with fees.

As for me, it's a £45K mortgage (£33.5K current mortgage with £22k of that Int only and £11.5K extra to pay off a high interest loan) for a property worth £120,000-140,000. Mortgage has 5 years to run hence why I thought a 5 year deal would be best and low or no fees are necessary as they could negate any saving. Only feature I need is ability to overpay. Best deals seen so far are 5.29% fixed at Northern Rock which works out fees free or 4.79% tracker again fees free. Bit concerned about interest rates going up though with the fixed rates getting so much more expensive lately - very annoyed at myself for not grabbing one a few months back! Thanks for any help.

Michelle