firstdirect dilemma .

johnbhoy10

Guys.

Just after any opinions on possibly anything i haen't thought of.

Situation is-

I've been on an offset tracker with FD since march 2010 and at start of year looked at going onto a fixed rate because of interest rate uncertainties. It was then that i found out that my options were very limited.

My wife was pregnant at the time and off on maternity pay and because of THIS income multiples have obviously been affected. This meant that our only options were other offset deals even though i wanted a fixed. Their reason for this was if i changed to fixed it was product change and hence a new application and income didn't stand up.

So i payed my £100 booking fee and went for a fixed offset deal but told them to wait till i advised them i wanted to proceed. 6 months nearly up at end of month and i'll probably let this one go.


However, i may book another fixed rate which would take me to start of year and wife is then back at work and if we don't go for this one also at least we have the full selection of products again.


In a rush and heading for work just now so have probably missed something but that's the general situation.


Can anyone see anything i maybe haven't thought about.


regards
John



ps-

1) my LTV is less than 60%

2) current rate is BR plus 1.99% (which is why i'm reluctant to give it up

3) currently overpaying every month.



thanks in advance

foreversummer

Look at it this way, if your LTV is less than 60%, you are on a decent tracker rate and you are currently managing to overpay even with the drop in income, why would you be in such a hurry to fix?

Foreversummer

dimbo61

Who knows when the BOE rate will increase but you already have a great tracker deal and as "Foreversummer" has already stated you can OP while your wife is off work.
What sort of fix are they offering and is it better/worse than the current deal you have the option to take.
I would only consider a 5 year fix under 4% IF!!!! you plan on staying in your current home for 5 years+ ( kids start school)

johnbhoy10

Firstly thankyou for taking time to respond my post.

Like i stated i was in a bit of a rush for work and probably never explained properly.

I am in no hurry to get onto a fixed rate. I would say what i'm looking for is a bit of a safety net given the fact that my circumstances have changed and won't get back to what we call normal till January 2012. I allso hve no intention of moving house.

I am at the moment pretty much limited to FD and their offset products. I also realise there is absolutely no point in looking elsewhere as because of present situation income does not stack up.

Looking at the FD website last night i have 2 offset fixed products to choose from over 3 years-

1) fee free 4.29%

or

2) £499 fee at 3.99%

The first option costs me approx £650 more in interest but has no fee so it is approx £150 more expensive over the 3 year period.

However, i will probably go for option 1 and contact them in early August to book it.

My reasoning for this is because even though it is dearer there is no fee to pay and this will not cost me anything to book the product considering there is every chance i will not use it.

Like i said this is more for safety net purposes but last thing i want is BOE increase in second half of year and a mad scramble by everyone to get onto fixes and i missed out on the best deal and would have to wait till January before i had full choice again.

Peelerfart

I'm with the "stay where you are camp" January 2012 is only six months away and you're going to struggle to better your existing deal.

I don't think you need to do anythin other than what you are doing,if you think money may get tight in the next six months stop the OP's

johnbhoy10

Thanks Peeler

To digress a bit-did you ever get a satisfactory answer from paymentshield and overpayments? I remember you posting in a thread i was reading a while back and wondered about this? I had the same issue as you about overpayments and wanting them to put in writing that they would work out the average.

Peelerfart

johnbhoy10 wrote: »

Thanks Peeler

To digress a bit-did you ever get a satisfactory answer from paymentshield and overpayments? I remember you posting in a thread i was reading a while back and wondered about this? I had the same issue as you about overpayments and wanting them to put in writing that they would work out the average.

Strewth mate you are going back a bit and yes I did here's the response -

"Thank you for contacting Paymentshield.

The insured amount should reflect the current payments you make monthly to your mortgage lender as this is the figure the Claims Team would take into account when calculating your monthly benefit in the event of a claim as long as you can prove you have been paying this amount for several months or more."

If you need anymore PM me

johnbhoy10

Peelerfart wrote: »

Strewth mate you are going back a bit and yes I did here's the response -

"Thank you for contacting Paymentshield.

The insured amount should reflect the current payments you make monthly to your mortgage lender as this is the figure the Claims Team would take into account when calculating your monthly benefit in the event of a claim as long as you can prove you have been paying this amount for several months or more."

If you need anymore PM me

Thanks for that. Yeah it was a while ago but it took 2 or 3 letters from them before i got an answer that i was happy with. I just got the impression that they were struggling with the concept of an offset tracker mortgage and with me choosing interest only payments and topping up with capital every month.

The response i got was-

"we can confirm that if you are making regular and consistent overpayments on your mortgage, then this is something we will cover if you can provide evidence that the overpayments have been made for at least six months at point of any claim."

I was quite happy with that.

Anyway, i contacted FD and they said i could of course book the fee free for 6 months. I will probably do this tomorrow and that will at least give me some peace of mind till things in our house 'get back to normal' as it were.

Thanks again for you replies.