Fixed rate ending - help understanding next steps

chihiro05

I'm wondering if someone can give me some advice. Our 3 year fixed rate mortgage deal comes to an end in June and as this is our first time we are not really sure what happens next. I presume the bank we have the mortgage with will contact us closer to the time when there is so little time left that you don't have a choice but to go with what they offer you?

Are they likely to offer another 3 year fixed rate deal? Or is that not how it works? Do we need to ask for it?

Also the other thing that is worrying me...when we got our first mortgage we were in a totally different financial situation. Both my other half and I were working part time. We now have a completely different situation. Other half stopped working to stay at home and look after the kids, I on the other hand increased my hours slightly. Our total income has been cut down a lot so will this affect us getting a mortgage or is it that once you have bought a house and have a mortgage it's a completely different ball game? It wasn't easy to get our first mortgage and parents had to step in and help out for us even be considered.

Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated. Mortgages make me incredibly nervous and I have no idea what I should be doing if anything.

Thanks

Paully232000

I know from reading on here that getting a mortgage with the current lender should not require a further credit check, so first step i guess would be to ring them up sooner rather than later to ask them what retention deals are available. We phoned up our current lender and asked them this (but wasnt very competitive).

Getting a mortgage with a new provider will require an application and going through your finances as was the case first time round, but from what i can gather, more comprehensively.

Someone will come along soon and give you more detailed advice, maybe asking for your income details, and how much you want to borrow etc.

amnblog

Get a new rate with your current lender in the next couple of weeks if that is your intention.

chihiro05

Now you're asking!
Ok info that might be helpful.
Income is around 12k then we get tax credits and child benefit and with those two added we get to 21-22k x year. When we applied for our mortgage we were around 24-25k total

We borrowed 90k - our current monthly payments are around £440.

So if I get this correctly...if we stay with our current lender we won't have to go through the whole process again is that right? But if choose to jump ship we start from the beginning which as I view it means we will be in a worse position than 3 years ago because our income has gone down.

chihiro05

amnblog wrote: »

Get a new rate with your current lender in the next couple of weeks if that is your intention.

So do as Paully suggested and contact the lender ourselves and don't wait for them to contact us in (I presume) May?

~Beanie~

chihiro05 wrote: »

So do as Paully suggested and contact the lender ourselves and don't wait for them to contact us in (I presume) May?

Yes, I'm with Halifax and they definitely didn't contact me when my fixed rate deal ran out, just put me onto their SVR which suited me at the time.

chihiro05

~Beanie~ wrote: »

Yes, I'm with Halifax and they definitely didn't contact me when my fixed rate deal ran out, just put me onto their SVR which suited me at the time.

I'm glad I asked now because we have with Halifax too so there was me thinking that a new offer would automatically be put on the table but it sounds like they don't do that! Thank you all for the help and advice

LaFlotte

Hi we are also with Halifax and our deal runs out at the end of May.

With Halifax you can switch to a new fixed rate deal when your current deal has less than 3 months to run, you don't need to wait until June, you can do it now,

I called Halifax and over the phone they told me which new deals we were able to have, based on the current loan to value. I then told them which one we wanted, they sent out paperwork which we signed and sent back and that was it!

It actually says in their "information about your mortgage guide" that with a product transfer if you are not borrowing any more money we do not need to check your income or make checks with a credit reference agency so we can give you an offer quite quickly.

So if I was you I would do this!