RT's Mortgage Free Quest...

Engeroosi

When re-mortgaging you could consider reducing the term to 15 years, or less than 25. I know this commits you to paying a higher amount each month but it also means you have greater scope to overpay if there are any charges.

RTNI

Hi all,

Sent in May's OP after the DD came out of the account as normal. Chq was cashed as normal but didn't get a letter like I normally do to tell me that they had received it etc....

So called up and asked but someone had only put the £500 OP down as an 'additional payment' instead of a 'capital repayment'. With this bank, an additional payment is not taken into account until the end of the year before the interest is recalculated, but with a capital repayment, the interest is recalculated immediately if payment is £500 or more. So she said that she would change it over to a capital repayment and get me a letter out. She asked if there was any particular reason for us over paying the mortgage like this and I said that we just wanted to put money towards the balance as and when we could - to reduce the term and keep the monthly DD's the same which I thought she understood.

Got the letter on Saturday at 1pm when the post came and they have adjusted the monthly payment and kept the term the same! :mad: Exactly what we did not want! Of course they are closed today becasue of the bank holiday so will need to call them first thing tomorrow and hope that they can change the monthly payment back to what it was in time for the DD that is coming out on or after 3rd June! (Hope they can but expect that it won't be in time).

That was the last OP we planned to do before we re-mortgage - our fixed rate expired at the end of July and we will be looking to get a good deal again.

Sorry for the rant - will update tomorrow after speaking to the local branch - they hopefully can fix this without me having to speak to the head office.

P.S. The figure in the signature is correct as of a few days ago but the MFD is a guess based on the previous months.

Sepa74

How frustrating! I hope you get it sorted out, but at least if you're re-mortgaging shortly it will fix itself

RTNI

Sepa74 wrote: »

How frustrating! I hope you get it sorted out, but at least if you're re-mortgaging shortly it will fix itself

Thanks - yes fingers and toes crossed indeed. Need to have a sit down and think about when we come to remortgage what term will we go for and how long of a fix to go for (we perfer to have a fixed deal so that there are no worries about rate changes during the term). On top of all that we are considering emigrating to Australia too and i'm coming into the last year of my PhD!! :eek:

Argh!! To many things at once! lol. Beer time soon though! :beer:

RTNI

Good news.

Called the society this morning to explain what happened and the manager said to leave it with her and she would get back to me. Just off the phone with her now and the payment has been amended back to what it was and she told me the new term of 25 years and 7 months, so will update signature now. Very helpful and was able to answer questions about when we would be able to renew with a new deal etc (about another few weeks or so - mid June time). Fantastic customer service from them.

Happy end of May everyone! lol.

RTNI

Afternoon all,

Been into town this morning with the OH to see the whole of market mortgage broker we went too when we were applying for the mortgage as our deal is up at the end of July this year. Currently on 4.5% fixed rate on a term of 25 years 7 months or so. The building society the mortgage is with had emailed the advisor their retention deals and new customer deals on the 1st June there, and looks like we are going for a 5 year fix deal at 4.79% with an arrangement fee of £149. We were both happy with that after a discussion with the advisor and comparing all the deals out there at the moment on the computer. We noticed that there were cheaper rates available, but some of the fees were really high - up to £2000! so a fee of £149 seems really good.

Next step is that on Monday he will contact the local branch directly to ask for illustrations on this mortgage for several term lengths, 20, 22 and the current term so that OH and I can see what this means in terms of payment. [Of course I have figures that are will be quite accurate but will be good to see these confirmed by the bank.]

Everyone else having a nice weekend? F1 Canada grad prix qualifying on now so I think I will watch that!