Do Mortgage Providers Ever Waive a Product Fee ???

cruickgl

Hello everyone, a quick question....does anyone have experience of a mortgage provider waiving their product fee/booking fee/arrangement fee (call it what you will) and who are most likely to do it?? I'm about to re-mortgage and without going into loads of details don't need to borrow a lot of money (approx £30-35k) for a LTV of around 12%. The cheapest monthly repayment deals for my circumstances are fee-free repayment mortgages on 2-3 yr deals but there are a few mortages that would be cheaper for me if the mortgage provider waived their fees. I'm not expecting a company to waive a £2000 arrangement fee of course but mortgages with fees of £99 or perhaps up to £500 might be worth a haggle if I know who to target. Anyone with experience of this would be a great help.

GMS

If you don't want to pay a fee then choose a product without one. Simple.

No lender will haggle over fees.

With a small loan you often find the fee free options cheaper overall despite interest rates being slightly higher. No point in paying a £999 fee to save £5 per month for example as it will take forever to claw back the fee.

kingstreet

No. The products with no fees are designed for lower mortgage amounts, the higher fees for borrowers of larger amounts.

You pick the product which suits you. Lenders don't haggle over fees and rates, it's take it or leave it...

cruickgl

Ok, I appreciate in my circumstances I'm penny pinching really but thought it might have been worth a shot if people had previously found mortgage providers to be a bit flexible with people they deemed to be a good credit risk. Thanks for the replies.

boonkoh

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but thought I would add my experience!

Had mortgage with ING Direct. Coming up to end of 2 year fixed period. Called to remortgage onto another 2 year fixed. Product fee of £495. Asked on the phone quite firmly, but the answer is no... "non negotiable".

But they didn't really have a good answer as to why the fees are the same for new customers and existing customers, even though much less paperwork and checks!

So it does seem that fees are non-negotiable. Which is a shame.

I haven't tried the tactic of saying I'm going to move my mortgage somewhere else... but I suspect it probably won't work either?

kingstreet

The fee is an integral part of the product pricing. It isn't an administration fee, it's part of the cost of arranging the rate-swap needed to provide a particular rate for a particular period.

dunstonh

But they didn't really have a good answer as to why the fees are the same for new customers and existing customers, even though much less paperwork and checks!

They dont employ staff with that level of knowledge and training. If the person was that skilled, they wouldnt be on the phone working for ING. Kingstreet has given you the reason.

Typically with mortgages, the pricing of the product is handled over three levels. Charges going in. The interest rate you pay and charges when you leave/close the mortgage. Some lenders have high charges and low interest rates or low charges and high interest rates and, historically, some lenders used to back end the charges if you left them but have hardly any on entry when you bought a new product. Some mortgages have no profit on the interest rate being paid and the only place they make money is the fee.

michaels

There are mortgage brokers who will refund some of their commission which might help to offset a fee on a small mortgage advance but this obviously doesn't apply to direct only mortgages which tend to have the best rates. Read Martin's article on mortgages for a suggested broker.

kingstreet

On the OP's original mortgage, £35,000, the procuration fee, at 0.35% (£122.50) wouldn't even cover the cost of regulation and administration.

A small mortgage takes just as long to advise on and administer as a large one. There is however, little scope to refund money.

TBH I'd refuse the business.

longtimelurker0

Hi,

Just wanted to say the Co-op did reduce fee for me when I asked.

I had come to the end of my fixed deal with them and wanted to move to another fixed deal which had a £499 fee. I asked them if they could reduce as I was an existing customer and they took it down to £349.

Guess I was just lucky as it seems most lenders won't negotiate.