How likely is it I can port my mortgage?

KaratePigeon

My partner and I have a small 2 bed house, and have had 2 kids over the last couple of years. So now need a bigger house

We currently have a tracker mortgage with HSBC, 0.99% above base rate, which we really want to keep! (I know, base rate will rise, but still want to keep it...)

I rang HSBC to see where we stand and they said yes we can port the rate, and borrow more if we need to, and they will lend us up to 3.5x income. Which I thought was fine, that's enough for us to upsize to a 3 bedroom house, so we have just put ours on the market.

But after reading posts on here I understand that HSBC are not likely to lend more than 2.5x if you have dependants? As we didn't have kids when we took out the mortgage, I assume they don't know - will they ask? borrowing 2.5x isn't going to be enough to enable us to move house, and even if we moved to a house of the same value without borrowing more, we now wouldn't meet the criteria

So to get 3.5 times income, do you think we will need to change provider? I'll be gutted to walk away from that good rate, and anyway I like being with HSBC as have most of my other accounts with them so makes life easy.

(if it matters, our house is advertised at £135k, with £108k left on our mortgage, looking to buy new house for about £150k, combined income is about £36k).

Thanks

holly_hobby

Seems pretty obvious ... but how about speaking to HSBC first, establish what income mulitple they will apply following your disclosure of dependants - and then have a hunt round for a new lender if you actually need one ?

You never know, you may be worrying and causing yourself work for nothing .... !!

Holly

KaratePigeon

I was kind of hoping they wouldn't ask if I had any dependants! obviously I wouldn't lie but didn't want to volunteer the information.

kingstreet

Try this, with and without the dependents, and see what you get;-

https://mortgages.hsbc.co.uk/how-much-can-I-borrow/

KaratePigeon

Hmm, yeah I get about 3x when I mention the dependants and 3.5x when I don't. Rubbish.
Is that what the mortgage lady in the branch will use to determine how much we can borrow then? We have always overpaid on our current mortgage with them, and have good credit rating etc.

Thanks for the replies

kingstreet

KaratePigeon wrote: »

Hmm, yeah I get about 3x when I mention the dependants and 3.5x when I don't. Rubbish.
Is that what the mortgage lady in the branch will use to determine how much we can borrow then? We have always overpaid on our current mortgage with them, and have good credit rating etc.

Thanks for the replies

Most calculators are designed to be a guide, rather than a confirmed estimate of borrowing power. I can only suggest you speak to them.

There was a thread on here last week where the OP was trying to use ING for a remortgage. When he used the affordability calculator his borrowing power dropped by £80k when he added his two dependents.