Advice on Halifax Mortgage

jonnyfgood

I like many others have noticed that Halifax are raising their standard variable rate from 1 May 2012.

Upto about 12 months ago I was on a three year tracker at 0.99% above base rate, which at the time was a good deal. When the deal came to an end I went onto the 3.49% SVR and since then have done nothing about switching deals. My mortgage isn't huge around 70k and I have around 10 years to go on it. Unfotunately it is linked to a Halifax Homeplan which needless to say isn't performing as it should, but thats another story.

With the SVR rise in 2 months time I was wondering whether now would be the best time to switch, but do I stay with the Halifax, sign up to one of their trackers or fixed rate deals or do I look at another comapny altogether.

Looking at the deals with other companies it appears that they all want large deposits, is this the case with them all, because I don't want to go down that route, and I don't want to pay a fee either.

My initial feeling is to sign up for the 2 year fixed deal with Halifax at 3.49% but i've never had a fixed deal before and is the base rate really going to go up much in the next 2 years with the country deep in recession?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

poppy10_2

You won't need to actually pay an additional deposit if you have sufficient equity in the property. How much do you think it is worth?

jonnyfgood

The house is worth around £270,000.

opinions4u

So you owe £70k on a £270k property?

Remortgage to the best deal you can get. First Direct might be a good starting point.

is the base rate really going to go up much in the next 2 years with the country deep in recession

While I don't think the base rate is likely to rise significantly in that time, the country hasn't been in recession since 2009.

poppy10_2

jonnyfgood wrote: »

The house is worth around £270,000.

So essentially you have a 75%, and only need a 25% LTV (loan-to-value) deal. Lenders will be throwing themselves at you, there should be some good deals out there.

jonnyfgood

Yes thats right.

So I can basically trawl through all the deals and select the best and most suitable for me? I was always under the misapprehension that changing company would require a deposit before I started.

I guess in the past I have stuck with the Halifax as it was always the easy option. There were all the other issues with changing company, i.e. form filling, identification, income proof, valuations, deeds transference etc..., so everything added together put me off. Then there was the question of remaining term of mortgage and how that works when you change.

Would the Halifax consider giving me a better deal to keep my custom?

What are peoples gut instincts right now, tracker or fixed?

Thrugelmir

jonnyfgood wrote: »

Would the Halifax consider giving me a better deal to keep my custom?

Banks sets the rates. Customers choose. Not a haggling market.

Halifax would be happy for you to move elsewhere as reducing size of mortgage book.