We've bought our first house!

zxcv784

thanks for all the responses, sorry it's taken a while to get back to the thread...

We are well aware that the property is not ours yet, was just a figure of speech, we previously had an offer accepted on a house before being gazumpt and couldn't afford to bid higher!

We are planning on staying in the house for 3-5 years, the house is a semi built in the 70's, we were looking at the shorter term fix because I think that it is quite likely that interest rates will remain low for some time (this is just my opinion!) so even after the 2 years I would imagine the SVR of our chosen lender to be relatively low (I'm fully aware that the SVR of the two lenders in my original post can change at the lenders will) and have the option of remortgaging if we want...

Was really looking for anyone had any views on the two banks or has had personal experience with them?

Thanks

LittleMissAspie

Well the Co-op do ethical banking which is a plus for me.

Taking a longer fix isn't always cheaper if you are planning to overpay. I have done the sums for my personal figures and I will owe less after a two year fix followed by one year of 7% than a three year fix.

BBDom

zxcv784 wrote: »

thanks for all the responses, sorry it's taken a while to get back to the thread...

We are well aware that the property is not ours yet, was just a figure of speech, we previously had an offer accepted on a house before being gazumpt and couldn't afford to bid higher!

We are planning on staying in the house for 3-5 years, the house is a semi built in the 70's, we were looking at the shorter term fix because I think that it is quite likely that interest rates will remain low for some time (this is just my opinion!) so even after the 2 years I would imagine the SVR of our chosen lender to be relatively low (I'm fully aware that the SVR of the two lenders in my original post can change at the lenders will) and have the option of remortgaging if we want...

Was really looking for anyone had any views on the two banks or has had personal experience with them?

Thanks

Here is exactly what we think of ING

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/33784859#Comment_33784859

We're currently with BOS who we've not had any problems with and applied and were accepted for a mortgage by Lloyds TSB (which we turned down for the ING fiasco)

To be honest with you, we were very impressed by the level of customer service from Lloyds - it might have been a one off but we were impressed.

zxcv784

thanks littlemiss, I've also done similar sums and think I'm set on a 2yr fix just down to choosing between the two really, co-op's SVR seems that it is high currently considering BoE interest rate is at 0.5%, don't think there is much between the two products to be honest, anyone esle have any views on the two?

zxcv784

BBDom wrote: »

Here is exactly what we think of ING

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/33784859#Comment_33784859

We're currently with BOS who we've not had any problems with and applied and were accepted for a mortgage by Lloyds TSB (which we turned down for the ING fiasco)

To be honest with you, we were very impressed by the level of customer service from Lloyds - it might have been a one off but we were impressed.

BBDom sounds like you had a bit of a nightmare! Will bear your experience in mind but I imagine I could find stories like yours online for the majority of providers, nevertheless like I said will take it into account and appreciate your post...

BBDom

zxcv784 wrote: »

thanks littlemiss, I've also done similar sums and think I'm set on a 2yr fix just down to choosing between the two really, co-op's SVR seems that it is high currently considering BoE interest rate is at 0.5%, don't think there is much between the two products to be honest, anyone esle have any views on the two?

As far as the rates go, we were going to go for the ING fixed rate at 3.09% for 2 years - its fallen now to 2.99% for 2 years.

To be honest with you, the Co-op deal pointed out earlier at 3.99% fixed for 5 years is one of the best long term rates I've come across over the past month of looking. The fees at £999 are pretty reasonable as well - only £50 over the ING deal.

I always view fixed rate mortgages as ideal for people who don't like to gamble. You have to take a step back and look at them as an insurance policy.

Sure you might be paying £x a month extra over the 2.99% but you know exactly what you'll be paying for the next 5 years.

For example, on my £85k mortgage, the payments on the 2.99% from ING would be £443 vs £489 on the 3.99% fixed 5 year from the Co-op. We've been paying from £522 to £580 for the past 3 years so its still going to be cheaper for us than staying on the SVR of 4.8% we're on at the moment.

If you can comfortably afford to pay the 3.99% rate but would struggle if interest rates went back up to 6-7% then its seriously worth considering.

We went for a 3 year fixed rate mortgage when we bought this house 3.5 years ago. Interest rates went up initially then went down and generally ended up balancing itself out so we weren't any better off (or worse off) than if we'd stayed with a tracker or similar. However, when the rates went up we didn't worry about it and when they came down, we'd budgeted for the fixed rate anyway so that didn't bother us - we knew we could afford it.

Anyway - rambling over - I'm now seriously looking at the Co-op deal for long term. I might only save £40 a month over what I'm paying at the moment but I won't worry about interest rate rises for the next 5 years and thats got to be worth something !

zxcv784

Cheers BBDom, plenty to think about!