Nearly out of debt: when to try remortgaging?

Lois_and_CK

I'm almost at the end of my debt journey, and come the new year CK and I will be savers instead of debtors. Our next money goals are retirement savings and switching mortgage products. While we've been paying off the debts, we've been on an interest-only mortgage with NRAM, on their SVR, and we'd like to switch to a lender with a better rate while interest rates are still low.

Our LTV is around 55%, and once the debts are finished we'll have plenty of surplus salary - more than enough to meet repayments on capital + interest - so in theory we should be a good bet for a decent rate. In reality though, our credit files will show - from a couple of years ago - several missed payments on credit cards and a payment arrangement, and more recently some credit card switching as we've moved to 0% deals, as well as recent loan payments coming to an end and overdrafts being paid off.

So I'm wondering when to try for a new mortgage - whether to go for it as soon as we're out of debt, or wait a year or so, so we have a better record of money management - and what people's experiences have been with how picky lenders are being over their lending criteria?