So much for helping people in need

nicol1978

Afternoon all,

I have a mortgage with the halifax which has 17yrs left and a balance of £52k. My payments are £410 per month and my rate is 5.99%

The tie in(5.99%), which was for 5yrs is due to end on 01/12/12. At the end of this period the banks variable rate is 3.9% saving me £50 a month straight away.

I contacted them looking to see my options as i wanted to clear my feet of credit cards etc.. as we are starting to feel its a bit struggle now with having three kids aswell. Basically i was looking to go to interest only for a short time to get back on our feet.

This is what they offered.
Without even checking my house(ex council, 3 bed terraced) they valued it at £56k even though the house next door sold for £75k two months ago. This would give me very little LTV so i could get 4.5%(which is more than var rate) with an arrangemnt fee of £999
I was told they dont do short term interest only so I would either have to take my mortgage back to 25yrs or defer payments which would effect my credit score.

All options putting me more in debt. I thought banks were supposed to be trying to help people..

Does anyone one know of any banks doing short term interest only?

opinions4u

I thought banks were supposed to be trying to help people..

What on earth makes you think that they exist to do anything other than help their shareholders?

And they haven't been too good at that recently!

_Andy_

nicol1978 wrote: »

Does anyone one know of any banks doing short term interest only?

Nope. Not at all.

kingstreet

Halifax uses a desktop valuation system which is notoriously unreliable. When doing a product transfer, you have the option of accepting the desktop valuation, or paying for a drive-by valuation or internal inspection. The costs, met by you, are £80 and £120 or thereabouts, respectively.

If you are sure your property is worth more than the desktop valuation, consider paying for a valuation by a surveyor.

Interest-only is no longer widely available due to concerns over repayment of the mortgage at the end of the term. The lenders who offer it will do so only in low loan to value cases and subject to there being an acceptable repayment plan in place.

Thrugelmir

nicol1978 wrote: »

All options putting me more in debt. I thought banks were supposed to be trying to help people..

Does anyone one know of any banks doing short term interest only?

From the banks perspective. What benefit do they receive? You are merely prioritising another creditor before them. Banks are in business to make a profit.

Suggest you stay on the SVR and use the £50 to pay the debt with the lowest interest rate.

Pay a visit to the Debt Free Wannabe board. You'll get plenty of support and advice on their from people in similar predicaments.

Immediate plan should be to draw up a budget of you income and outgoings. See where pennies can be saved.

leveller2911

opinions4u wrote: »

What on earth makes you think that they exist to do anything other than help their shareholders?

And they haven't been too good at that recently!

Thats very true, would also just mention that the taxpayers have bailed out a few of the banks so its reasonable to think they should reciprocate the good deed.:D

[Deleted User]

Have you considered seeing a broker to see if you could get offered a better rate elsewhere?

holly_hobby

Kings. is spot on - H. desktop vals are very conservative - indeed when Colley's attend their not much better ... so don't expect a HUGE change to the DT val, and anticiapte that you may have to challenge it, which does not necessarily mean it WILL be revised ( indeed there are a whole host of recent threads discussing down valuations, with guidance from us on how to manage the situ best ...have a peek for some guidance).

As a general add on to this thread (and just in case any of the brokers aren't aware yet), Natwest and RBS have just announced that they are also pulling out of interest only mges for new borrowers wef 3 December 2012 .......

Hope this helps

H

Dave_Ham

holly_hobby wrote: »

Kings. is spot on - H. desktop vals are very conservative - indeed when Colley's attend their not much better ... so don't expect a HUGE change to the DT val, and anticiapte that you may have to challenge it, which does not necessarily mean it WILL be revised ( indeed there are a whole host of recent threads discussing down valuations, with guidance from us on how to manage the situ best ...have a peek for some guidance).

As a general add on to this thread (and just in case any of the brokers aren't aware yet), Natwest and RBS have just announced that they are also pulling out of interest only mges for new borrowers wef 3 December 2012 .......


Hope this helps



H

Thanks Holly - I thought they pulled out of all lending several months ago!!1

holly_hobby

Ooh really Dave .... handy then you already know .....

I just thought it was a bit of useful info to share I had read today ..... now sarky pants :D !!!

H

Dave_Ham

No, no I actually did not know so was a great shared piece.

I was being sarky about them not really having an appetite to lend generally for the last 6 months+