Re-mortgaging Help

walkover

HI This is my first post on the forum so bear with me !! My mortgage is up for renewal in April and this year I want to either find a new broker or try and find a good deal myself. We are currently with Santander at 3.29% repayment of £1813.31 per month. The house was valued at 330k and we have as of today 191685k outstanding on our mortgage. My problem is I'm not sure if my FA over many years has been getting us the best deals after reading Martins remortgaging file, regarding whole of the market question etc. We have roughly 15k in savings ISA's and I am wondering if I should look at using this money to help with reducing the figure we owe ?? Santander offered me 2.39% with £924 fee's this morning yet when I look on comparsion sites there is 2.24% fixed. We've always done fixed rate for more control of our payments but I need to try and decrease our outgoings as my husbands company is less busy and money is tight. What should I do, get a broker or try myself. Can anyone recommend a broker ??:(

Let_Us_See

A rate reduction from 3.29% to 2.39% is a fair reduction and fee acceptable with a straightforward product swop. Perhaps you could re-mortgage to a lower rate, but this would require proof of income and afordability etc, and could this be achieved with potentialyl reduced income from husband's company?

Thrugelmir

Seems a good rate on offer. Maybe worth trying HSBC for comparison. Only direct so not through a broker.

Remember follow on interest rate is important. As product fees and legal costs etc eat away at benefits of remortgaging.

As your mortgage balance reduces saving in switching diminishes. So ideally you want to end up with a fair lender.

walkover

Hi Thanks for your replies, but I am still unsure what to do. We have opened a new bank account with Santander 123 yesterday all very straight forward but not as much savings as I first thought ( could have had more if we choose a credit card rather than debit for shopping, petrol etc) although better than our previous bank for sure. As I said before incomings down on previous months should I up the from 10yrs to 15yrs to bring down the mortgage payments or should I spilt and do interest/repayment on some of the 191000 mortgage as the new rates are only bringing it down by £100 a month. The other option i suppose is to use some of our savings from our stocks & shares ISA's roughly £15000 to overpay mortgage. My husband thinks its a bad idea to add 5yrs onto the mortgage but I feel it would take the pressure off each month till our incoming increase again. When does the bank review the interest next. Current mortgage deal will finish early April. Please advise thanks.

kingstreet

You are unlikely to be able to change any element of your mortgage to interest-only. Lenders, Santander in particular are trying everything they can to legally get rid of IO borrowers. I suspect if you approach them with such a request, your new product offer will disappear if your request is granted.

Altering the repayment method, or altering the mortgage term, is on the FSA's list of issues which require new affordability checks. You are currently being offered a product which will require none.

If you do decide to go part and part and/or change the term, you will be required to pass checks similar to those carried out by a new lender for a new application. It may therefore be prudent to consider a remortgage for an even better rate.

If you are concerned that the provable income is insufficient for the amount needed, it may be prudent to accept the lender's offer of a new product and leave well alone.

walkover

Thanks, when looking at new rates is it advisable to add fee's to your mortgage or not ??

kingstreet

Factor-in fees to establish which is the best offer.

If you are asking about adding fees to the loan, this is entirely up to you. Remember, you'll be paying interest on such additions, either until you pay them off, or the end of the mortgage term, whichever comes sooner...