Re-mortgage. Newcastle BS? A&L? C&G?

weeg

I'm normally pretty organised, but this fell through the cracks, and I no longer have time to do proper research. Mind you I'm hardly a financial wiz anyway!

I have a mortgage, solely in my name for £54,000.
Property value c£95,000
Income £25,500
Term remaining 23 years

Currently halifax mortgage rate 5.84% rising to 7.5% on 1 June. Payment £345
Rising to £412. I could manage this, but frankly I don't want to

Offset mortgages don't suit me. I'm not looking to pay off/overpay significantly within the next few years, I don't want cashback. I would be looking to bundle arrangement fees into the mortgage.

I looked at confused and moneysupermarket, so I'm pretty sure I can bring the payment down to less than £412.

Can anyone advise me on what type of deals are the best for someone like me and/or who I should avoid because their customer service or whatever is not worth the savings.

Cheers!

homer_j_3

If you dont have time to properly research the market or have time to fill applications, chase lenders and ensure that your remortgage is through as quick as possible to avoid paying the higher rate unnecessarily then I would say you are a clear candidate to get some mortgage advice from a professional.

Best buy tables do not fully consider your circumstances, give you all the information you need to choose a suitable mortgage for you or tell you about their service standards which could mean paying less payments at the higher rate.

weeg

homer,

Thanks. You could be right. This leads me to the following questions - where do I find a mortgage advisor (I'm in Glasgow, if that has any bearing), and how much would I be looking to pay for their service?

And, if it's not too cheeky, do you guys also get commission from the mortgage lenders? Does that skew where you look? Tell me to bog off if it's none of my business.

homer_j_3

no issues with any part of your question as the points are all valid.

There are different ways in which a mortgage broker can work.

You can pay for their services and they also take a commission from the lender.

You can pay for their services and they will refund any commission received or

You can pay no fee and they take the commission.

The commission received will not make the rates any worse than going direct but where there is no fee being charged then there is the opinion that some brokers may be swayed by this which will impact on the advice given. I am fee free (and no I am not touting for business) but pride myself on not even looking at the commisison until I have decided on which product I have felt is best for my client. Other brokers may not do this so you have to be careful.

If you pay a fee and let the adviser take the commission then you open yourself upto the same concern as going fee free - what stops the adviser trying to squeeze a few extra £ out of the proc fees?

The best way that I can see, which unfortunately I am unable to do in my current role, is charge a relevant fee and refund the proc fee so you know that the adviser has nothing to gain or lose by not choosing the best mortgage for you as the commission in going straight back to you. It is just whether or not you want to pay for the advice.

I would say that what you should pay will depend on your circumstances - if you have no previous credit problems and are employed or self employed with accounts then anything upto 0.5% of your mortgage would reflect a fair fee. If you have had credit problems or have more complex circumstances anything upto 1% would be fair. That said each adviser will set their fees to suit their business structure so the fees quoted are just where I feel I would set mine if I was to work that way as it reflects average commission rates received.

You also have to bear in mind how many lenders the broker has access too. That is the first question I would ask. If they have access to any less than say 35 lenders then they are quite restrictive. The best advisers are those with access to more lenders because they will minimize the risk of missing a good deal.

Brokers do not have access to ALL lenders as some may suggest because there are lenders out there that do not deal with brokers (HSBC- Britannia being examples)

weeg

homer,

Thanks for that. That makes sense. I don't mind paying for advice, so long as I trust the advice. (I work for a consulting firm, so I fully understand about paying for expertise). You've been a great help.

(I do retain some cynicism about IFAs based purely one 1 man. He was an ex-squaddie, who had his hours cut as a lorry driver, so set up in business as an IFA instead. Nice bloke, but not the brightest button)

AJK_3

weeg wrote: »

I'm normally pretty organised, but this fell through the cracks, and I no longer have time to do proper research. Mind you I'm hardly a financial wiz anyway!

I have a mortgage, solely in my name for £54,000.
Property value c£95,000
Income £25,500
Term remaining 23 years

Currently halifax mortgage rate 5.84% rising to 7.5% on 1 June. Payment £345
Rising to £412. I could manage this, but frankly I don't want to

Offset mortgages don't suit me. I'm not looking to pay off/overpay significantly within the next few years, I don't want cashback. I would be looking to bundle arrangement fees into the mortgage.

I looked at confused and moneysupermarket, so I'm pretty sure I can bring the payment down to less than £412.

Can anyone advise me on what type of deals are the best for someone like me and/or who I should avoid because their customer service or whatever is not worth the savings.

Cheers!

Have a look at the ING Direct flexible mortgage. Currently 5.39%, no arrangement, valuation or legal fees. You can overpay as much as you like with no penalties and you're free to leave also without penalties.

54k over 23 yrs repayment = £341.75 (This is based on 5.39%, if they decided to pass the 1/4% rise you would be looking at monthly cost of about £354....still less than £412).......You can complete the whole application online if you're pushed for time or over the phone. My application from start to finish took 20 days, so no complaints from me about service!