Remortgage advice needed

Oliveroses

Hi, if anyone has any remortgaging advice I’d be so grateful! We’ve been paying off credit cards religiously since we moved house, refurbed the kitchen, and got married a few years ago. We’ve been doing well and being focused but I realised I haven’t been taking care of my overdrafts - they are not getting worse but also not better. I’m paying the ODs (arranged) off in a week but I will need to wait 3 months to have decent bank statements for the remortgage. Does anyone know if it’s better to wait and delay the remortgage and pay a higher amount for a couple of months on the banks standard rate (and risk interest rise) or should we just go for it and hope for the best in terms of having been living in the overdraft? Any advice most welcome! I have a good credit rating, it’s just that perhaps I should have focused on the overdraft before the card repayments...
Thanks!

middleclassbutpoor

Will your existing lender offer you better rates to retain you?

Oliveroses

I’m not sure but would hope so, I’ve been very loyal however I also bank with them. I haven’t done any asking yet as I’m too worried about clearing the overdraft before I start!

middleclassbutpoor

May be worth saying who your existing lender is and you may get some idea on how they view/assess retention deals from others on here.

My understanding is that retention deals are far simpler than remortgages - I know people have managed to do this where they have been on DMPs before so this would suggest they probably are happy to just consider your mortgage payment history and conduct with them.

Post your lender and see if you can get any further guidance.

ThePants999

Yes, retention deals are indeed far simpler than remortgages. You're already a customer, so they don't need a full application from you, full affordability checks etc. Last I took one, they also took me at my word about the increased value of my house as it mattered for the LTV ratio.

Oliveroses

Thank you both, this is really good to know. The lender is Nationwide. I was going to seek advice from London and Country, would they advise before starting to approach Nationwide or other potential lenders? (Does that sound like a good idea or best to just go straight to my lender?)

Edi81

Nationwide is one of the better lenders for retention deals. They tend to offer the same as new customers.

Go into their website and it will tell you what they are currently offering.

Oliveroses

Thanks so much! They have some good deals for existing customers, my only worry is whether the overdraft issue will present a problem. Would a broker be useful do you think?

Penelopa.Pitstop

For retention there's no extra checks. You just choose product online and it's approved quickly. Value of the property is based on automatic valuation. Just go online and through the process, you will see it. You can start 3 months before expiry of current product. You can choose start date of the new product too.

Oliveroses

Thank you so much!