Halifax Mortgage - Early Repayment Charge

bowieben2

Hi

Were in the process of moving house. Our current mortgage deal with the Halifaxis a really good rate, we have now been told it isnt portable... Were staying with the Halifax still and taking out a new mortgage, they are now saying we also have to pay the ERC of £2500.

This is really annoying as we checked this 3 times before getting so far down the line. We were initially told that our mortgage is portable and we wouldnt have to pay an ERC. We double checked this info a few months later when we were a bit further down the line with selling. Again we were told (over the phone this time) that it was correct, our mortgage is portable and we wouldnt have to pay an ERC. Then, now were close to completion on ours and the property were buying, we have been told actually our mortgage isnt portable and we have to pay a £2500 ERC.

We can live with the fact that were going to lose our good mortgage rate. But is it right they can charge us an ERC if were staying with the lender??

Ta
Ben

beecher2

I thought all Halifax products were portable - is it maybe the case that you don't fit in with Halifax's lending criteria now and they're not allowing you to port?

bowieben2

We bought our original property through a Homebuy direct scheme, so it wasnt just a standard mortgage. They were fully aware of this though and still advised us it was portable. It wasnt till the very last minute that theyve gone back and said actually it isnt. To be fair to them, we have since dug out our original mortgage promise and in the small print it does say its not portable, so I dont think we can argue that even though we were told on several occasions otherwise. Its the ERC thats the problem, were having to pay out so much to move (were also selling with negative equity) that hitting us at this stage with another £2.5k charge when we repeatedly asked them about it just doesnt seem fair.

beecher2

Unfortunately I think you should have checked your original documents earlier - the operator probably didn't understand that you were on a Homebuy direct scheme. The mortgage offer will have made it clear that you'd have to pay an ERC too I'm afraid, as will your yearly statments.

manfriday_2

Apologies for highjacking your thread, and I can't offer any useful advice, but, could you tell me where I'd find out if my mortgage is portable? I have a halifax mortgage which was fixed for 5 years (now had it over two years) and I'm now looking at the possibility of moving at some point before the 5 years are up. How does this work? (Apologies again because I understand this is a totally stupid question but I don't fully understand how mortgages work!) Can you move house and increase your existing mortgae to cover the increased property cost or does it not work like that? Also, would I still then have to pay the penalty fees from the first five years? If you do this can you add somebody else into the mortgage? Any advice would be huuuuuugely appreciated!