Remortgage and fixed rates

Chelsea87

Hi we are coming to the end of the fixed rate period on our mortgage. I am currently on maternity leave but will be going back to work in April (fixed rate ends in june). I was previously working full time but am dropping to 3 days. My husband currently works as an employee but is looking at going self employed (with same company etc but it means he gets paid over £100 per week more plus tax back each april). So my question is, could this impact us remortgaging with another fixed rate. This is our first mortgage so we're unsure what we need to do but am anxious about not having a fixed rate each month. Can you get another fixed rate with the same mortgage provider or do you need to switch to another company? Our credit rating isn't great but never missed a payment on our mortgage. Any advice appreciated as we are clueless! 

RelievedSheff

You can do a product switch with your current lender provided they are willing to offer you a new product. They are not always the best rates though.

K_S

Chelsea87 said:

Hi we are coming to the end of the fixed rate period on our mortgage. I am currently on maternity leave but will be going back to work in April (fixed rate ends in june). I was previously working full time but am dropping to 3 days. My husband currently works as an employee but is looking at going self employed (with same company etc but it means he gets paid over £100 per week more plus tax back each april). So my question is, could this impact us remortgaging with another fixed rate. This is our first mortgage so we're unsure what we need to do but am anxious about not having a fixed rate each month. Can you get another fixed rate with the same mortgage provider or do you need to switch to another company? Our credit rating isn't great but never missed a payment on our mortgage. Any advice appreciated as we are clueless! 

@Chelsea87

- if you can get a letter from your employer confirming return to work date and pay, that can be used for affordability

- if your husband moves from employed to self-employed prior to the remo application, it's highly unlikely that you would get to use his income and get mainstream rates

- in any case, your backup is that you should be able to do a product switch which is moving to another fixed rate but staying with the same lender. Typically this involves no paperwork, no income verification, no credit check etc and takes 5 minutes over the phone or online. If you current lender is a mainstream one, you're not likely to lose out by a lot by staying with the same lender though of course you will be limited to what they offer.

Good luck!

alw1971

K_S said:

Chelsea87 said:

Hi we are coming to the end of the fixed rate period on our mortgage. I am currently on maternity leave but will be going back to work in April (fixed rate ends in june). I was previously working full time but am dropping to 3 days. My husband currently works as an employee but is looking at going self employed (with same company etc but it means he gets paid over £100 per week more plus tax back each april). So my question is, could this impact us remortgaging with another fixed rate. This is our first mortgage so we're unsure what we need to do but am anxious about not having a fixed rate each month. Can you get another fixed rate with the same mortgage provider or do you need to switch to another company? Our credit rating isn't great but never missed a payment on our mortgage. Any advice appreciated as we are clueless! 

@Chelsea87

- if you can get a letter from your employer confirming return to work date and pay, that can be used for affordability

- if your husband moves from employed to self-employed prior to the remo application, it's highly unlikely that you would get to use his income and get mainstream rates

- in any case, your backup is that you should be able to do a product switch which is moving to another fixed rate but staying with the same lender. Typically this involves no paperwork, no income verification, no credit check etc and takes 5 minutes over the phone or online. If you current lender is a mainstream one, you're not likely to lose out by a lot by staying with the same lender though of course you will be limited to what they offer.

Good luck!

Exactly

I'm with Nationwide and have been for about 6 years. They are competitive and when the renewal date comes around I check the comparison site and contact them asking to swap to that deal (usually a 2 year fix in my case). As said above it's literally 5 minutes on the phone and job done. 

This is obviously more difficult if you change lender. As long as your current lender is competitive it's easy.

MWT

Chelsea87 said:

My husband currently works as an employee but is looking at going self employed (with same company etc but it means he gets paid over £100 per week more plus tax back each april).

I hope your husband has taken some advice on this as there are disadvantages and costs to going down this route that he needs to consider, especially if he is only planning to be providing his services to the same company...

Re the mortgage though with all the changes in your circumstances it feels like this is the time to take do a product switch rather than a remortgage.

Who is your current lender? You mentioned not having a great credit rating so just wondering if your mortgage was with a high st lender or if you had to go with something more specialised...

Chelsea87

Thanks everyone for your advice, I didn't know about a product renew so this is useful information. We are with Precise mortgages, which is a specialist lender (although we have a decent rate with them at present due to being in their best tier).