Taking out an unsecured loan to pay off a secured loan to improve LTV?

amnblog

You should forget the mortgage and focus on paying off the credit cards. Unless you have more than 3 years interest free you are heading towards some serious interest bills.

ViolaLass

Eastlands70 wrote: »

There are a couple of cracking 90% discounted deals available that blow my current rate out of the water - the Leek are offering 2.49% variable discounted for 2 years

which would protect you from interest rate rises how exactly?

kingstreet

Leek United SVR currently 5.19%.

Can't remortgage in two years and no customer retention products offered?

Two years benefit for twenty years of pain?

hanfrangipane

kingstreet wrote: »

Leek United SVR currently 5.19%.

Can't remortgage in two years and no customer retention products offered?

Two years benefit for twenty years of pain?

King street - why would it be 20 years of pain? Our svr is relatively high but we plan to remortgage at end of a fix (although can't decide on fix length!) - are you assuming in this scenario that remortgage won't be possible?

kingstreet

Yes.

If your lender offers no customer retention products and you can't remortgage due to a change of circumstances, you are leaving yourself open to a two year benefit and the remainder of your mortgage term with the pain of being a mortgage prisoner.

Borrowers have to look further forward than they are at present and also assume they may be in different terrain due to job loss, relationship breakdown or unexpected childbirth.

hanfrangipane

kingstreet wrote: »

Yes.

If your lender offers no customer retention products and you can't remortgage due to a change of circumstances, you are leaving yourself open to a two year benefit and the remainder of your mortgage term with the pain of being a mortgage prisoner.

Borrowers have to look further forward than they are at present and also assume they may be in different terrain due to job loss, relationship breakdown or unexpected childbirth.

Ah ok, got you. Do you generally ask whether a lender offers retention products? Is it a some do, some don't scenario?

Not sure how you're supposed to choose in this case as the Svr will change over the period won't it?

Eastlands70

kingstreet wrote: »

Leek United SVR currently 5.19%.

Can't remortgage in two years and no customer retention products offered?

Two years benefit for twenty years of pain?

I've checked with them and Leek do offer existing customers retention products when they're coming to the end of their deal. They don't just throw you on to their SVR - they always have various deals on the go for existing customers.

Eastlands70

ViolaLass wrote: »

which would protect you from interest rate rises how exactly?

Nothing can fully safeguard against it but 2.49% variable trumps 4.44% variable comfortably.

kingstreet

What a lender does now and what it does in two years' time may not be the same.

I'm sure plenty of Halifax and Santander borrowers would have said two years ago they'll have no problem getting a retention product now.

How wrong they were...

Just be careful signing up to a lender with a higher SVR. Just in case, like!

Eastlands70

amnblog wrote: »

You should forget the mortgage and focus on paying off the credit cards. Unless you have more than 3 years interest free you are heading towards some serious interest bills.

I agree that that is probably the most sensible course of action, hence why I'm currently paying off £400 a month rather than the minimum payment which I was paying until recently. I've never had problems getting a new 0% deal at the end of a current one in the past but I'm more interested in shifting the credit card debt completely these days rather than flitting from one interest free deal to another.