NatWest mortgage - switch deal early (within fixed term)

Timbosaurus

Hello all - I have a residential mortgage with NatWest, currently with a touch under £28k still owing, at a fixed rate of 4.5% on a five year fix which still has 1yr 8 months to run. My Early Repayment Charge (ERC) is stepped reducing from 5% in the first year down to 1% in the final year of the fixed term, so I would have to pay 2% ERC to redeem the loan early.

Looking at their deals for existing customers to switch, I could currently fix at 2.67% for another 5yr term. Given that this would save me just under 2% per annum, it would take a little over a year for the ERC to pay for itself. It would also lower my monthly repayments from £140 per month to just over £100 assuming I stick to the original term. So, the maths seems to work out.

My question is, do they allow an internal product switch within a fixed term? I can't do it online, but most of their literature on the subject doesn't explicitly say it isn't possible, they don't really answer it at all. Does anyone have any experience of this? Also, would I be able to add the ERC to the loan without having to go through a new affordability assessment?

Thanks

Sibz

I was on their site (logged in) recently and I think I saw something about switching to another mortgage product but I think it was limited to about 5 months before current term ends... I could be wrong about how many months it was.... They offer an online chat on their site that are pretty helpful