Finishing mortgage - what must I do?

davidlizard

Apologies if this is a bit of a silly question.

Our fixed rate with the Nationwide comes to an end at the end of this month. However, if we scrape together just about every bit of cash we have in various places we will have just about enough to pay off the mortgage in full.

We have been called in to the building society next week to "discuss our mortgage options" - I guess this is so they can flog us another one. But we really just want to get shot of it.

I understand that as from next month, we will be on the standard variable rate, but we will be out of our initial period so we should only have a £90 redemption fee to pay and no other charges.

My question is what is the actual procedure for finishing ones mortgage? Is it simply a case of collating all our money into our Nationwide Flexaccount then writing a cheque (or electronic transfer), or do solicitors need to be involved? Or is the process of finishing ones mortgage much more complicated than this?

Is there anything I should be aware of? I guess deeds are now stored electronically with the Land Registry and there is nothing I need to do on that front?

All advice most gratefully received.

Dave

keeperbear

davidlizard wrote: »

My question is what is the actual procedure for finishing ones mortgage? Is it simply a case of collating all our money into our Nationwide Flexaccount then writing a cheque (or electronic transfer), or do solicitors need to be involved? Or is the process of finishing ones mortgage much more complicated than this?

Dave,

I simply walked into the Nationwide gave them my debit card and mortgage account number and told them to transfer enough funds to pay off the outstanding balance. If you have internet banking, you should already know the outstanding daily mortgage balance. After doing that, I phoned the central Nationwide mortgage number and told them that I was cancelling my direct debit and wanted to close my mortgage account. In about two weeks they will remove the charge on your property and send you an updated copy of the land registry documents together with your deeds (do make sure that you cancel the direct debit, as the muppets took another payment from me and left my mortgage account in credit). Eventually your mortgage account details will then disappear from your internet banking!!!! In constrast to you, I didn't have to pay any fees at all, but I know that you now pay around £99.

silver7

I'm about to finish my mortgage with Nationwide in the next couple of months as well and was wondering if its best to leave a nominal amount in my account just in case i decide to move at a later date and need to re-mortgage. Any opinions on this idea?

Martinslovechild

silver7 wrote: »

I'm about to finish my mortgage with Nationwide in the next couple of months as well and was wondering if its best to leave a nominal amount in my account just in case i decide to move at a later date and need to re-mortgage. Any opinions on this idea?

It depends really on the costs of remortgaging against the costs of setting up a new mortgage elsewhere. Whilst remortgages generally attract lower fees upfront, the rates are likely to be higher (but not always) than commencing a new mortgage deal elsewhere.

Particularly if your new mortgage is likely to be sizeable, there could be a lot of difference in the monthly/annual costs if a new deal is likely to be 0.5% cheaper than a remortgage deal with your existing lender for instance. You'll need to sit down and work out the likely costs, depending on what amount you'd like to borrow. Check out some of the rates on MoneySupermarket.com and/or Charcolonline.co.uk. Don't forget to include all the necessary fees in your calculations.

Don't forget to price in the likelihood of a further 0.25% rise in interest rates in September (it could even happen in August but most economists currently believe this to be unlikely).