Unsure what to do!

samps1973

Yeah I started looking into a pension a while back. Somewhere on MSM it says to put a certain % of your salary away depending on your age. 
About 4 years ago I received a letter from a pension company saying I had £33,000 in a pension. A bit confused, I called them and they said I opted out of serps when I was 18 at Barclays bank I remember asking an adviser about saving back then but forgot about it so a nice surprise. I put that into my nest pension which is where my workplace pension is paid. Altogether theres just under 50k in there now. Sounds a lot but monthly it's very little monthly when I'll retire. I was thinking about using that in a tax efficient way to help towards my mortgage if required when I'm 55. I'll mention it to the broker. But yeah I'll leave that till I'm settled 🙂.
Thanks

MovingForwards

Keep your pension as a pension and don't use it towards the mortgage when older, your retired self will thank you. There's still plenty of time for it to grow and it's (currently) the most tax efficient way of saving for the future.

Pension drawdown age is changing, therefore it's an extra couple of years before any of it can be accessed. Your broker won't be able to advise you on it and if you ventured into the pension board and asked, the members would suggest leaving it.

In theory you should have several payrises before retirement, maybe a job change or two. After a while your mortgage payment will feel lower because your income is higher.

saajan_12

samps1973 said:

Yeah I started looking into a pension a while back. Somewhere on MSM it says to put a certain % of your salary away depending on your age. 
About 4 years ago I received a letter from a pension company saying I had £33,000 in a pension. A bit confused, I called them and they said I opted out of serps when I was 18 at Barclays bank I remember asking an adviser about saving back then but forgot about it so a nice surprise. I put that into my nest pension which is where my workplace pension is paid. Altogether theres just under 50k in there now. Sounds a lot but monthly it's very little monthly when I'll retire. I was thinking about using that in a tax efficient way to help towards my mortgage if required when I'm 55. I'll mention it to the broker. But yeah I'll leave that till I'm settled 🙂.
Thanks

Good idea to maintain and keep paying into a workplace pension, its tax efficient and the employer's contribution is effectively a pay rise you don't get otherwise. 

samps1973

Update.
I've probably been doing the wrong thing by reading loads on the internet. It doesn't take long to get a headache jumping from site to site 🤔...Although I earn £35,000pa, £7,000 of that is guaranteed overtime. I do 7 1/2 hrs a week at time and a half. I used to have a second job and was unable to do extra hours in my full time job. My full time boss said that he'd give me the overtime to cover what I earned in my second job, i accepted. 

When i think of mortgage providers the top of the list in my mind is halifax. I'm not sure if it's the adverts on TV but to me their the biggest and when I've used them in the past I've always had a good experience with other products.

I used a mortgage calculator. I put on the website £35,000 and it came back with £166,000...I didn't think it would make a difference so I recalculated and put in £28,000 salary and £7,000 OT...The result was about £142,000.
So I'm assuming you get less for overtime. I bit the bullet and filled in the agreement in principal for Halifax as it's a soft search on my file and it's open till the end of august. The final amount they would offer me is £118,550. 
I've got £10,000 deposit so £128,550, not bad for a 1st attempt 😁.
I'd be happy to have a mortgage that size to be honest as it's only over 19 years and keeps the payments affordable. I've had a look around and the cheapest around that I've seen so far is about £140k - £150 for a 1 bed.
I have a friend who's girlfriend works for a broker, he said I'm welcome to contact them as they deal with complicated cases. But I'm not sure if my case is complicated. Someone here said L&C wouldn't be much good for my case but the website seems easy to use and they ar MSM's no1 recommended mortgage broker and is open till 8 most nights. however there is mixed reviews on trust pilot. I'm not keen on using the company my friend suggested as they are a small company and I'd feel bad if I never went ahead with the recommended mortgage and making his girlfriend look stupid. Are there any other go to mortgage brokers that any of you can recomend? Preferably one that charges the fee to the lender. 
Thanks

Ps I think the figures above work out like that because on the site the figures are over 25 years and not 19 years. The overtime definitely effects the figures though.

samps1973

Sorry about the long post above 🙄 I had a bad day thinking about mortgages.
I need about £150k to get what I need. 
I done the online form for L&C and the AIP was about 158k, putting down that I'm going to retire at 70 helps too. L&C seem very busy and I've been told I have to wait a week to speak to an adviser. If I have to wait that long how long will it take for everything else that they need to sort out?.
I've been looking everywhere over the internet about mortgages. I've got a few AIP's...I ended up going back to the bank I bank with as I've used them for years, AIP 141k. They said I can pay extra payments. 10% of the total balance for each year fee free so £15,000 in the first year. I wont be able to pay that much but it's good to know i can pay as much as i like. If i was to overpay, I would be charged 0.75 - 1.5% which I suppose I would have to pay towards the end of my mortgage as it shrinks.
At the moment I feel a 1000 miles away from completion. It seems stupid to go and view properties when I can't guarantee 100% that that is the amount I can guarantee to pay as the AIP and deposit is so close to the value of the property. Wow this is a stressful journey!
Also its not easy to get a mortgage in my case for under 10% but the bank found a way for me to pay £8,600 deposit and £141,400 mortgage, although like I said it's not guaranteed as credit scores change.
Any thoughts would be welcome.
Sorry for the long post again (stress!) 😁

L&C seem over busy and I don't know which broker would be good as theres so many of them about.

MovingForwards

There are better brokers around, especially ones which are not conveyor belt ones. You will get a personal touch with other brokers, they will respond to queries, provide detailed information and effectively hold your hand. The DIP you receive from L&C will not be accepted by estate agents as it's what L&C think you can afford, not what a lender says.

Some charge a fee, some rely solely on what they receive from the lender.

Some lenders won't take into account overtime, others some of it, some will take all of it. 

Most lenders allow 10% overpayments each year, only the lucky ones have that much spare 🤭

I'm not sure if @K_S is able to offer any insight or whether s/he is currently taking on clients, my broker currently isn't, but it may be worth a chat with an independent broker rather than a chain.

samps1973

I'm wondering whether it would be best to also put this on the mortgage board now as I know what I want to do. Is anyone able to do this or know how to do this as apparently theres mortgage brokers on that thread.

Thanks

MovingForwards

The brokers do comment on other sections.

It might be easier to start a new thread, with the relevant information, what your ideas are and see what is said. Fresh eyes and all that.

deannagone

I want to give a contra view to one spoken many times on this thread.  I was a 'child of divorce'. 

My father soon moved to London (we lived in B'ham) and I hardly saw him.  When I did see him, I had a fairly uncomfortable sofa bed in the lounge and that became more relevant as I got older (used to get back ache from a rod just where your back goes lol).  Didn't stop the most important thing being to see him, I missed him terribly but not every child expects/wants to see their parent rarely, even when an adult. The biggest gift I could have been given would have been to see him say once a month.  But I was never asked what I wanted, unfortunately.  Our relationship never really recovered.  I was very close to him before the divorce. I can't see that I was rare in wanting to spend more time with my dad (it was twice a year at most).  But reading the views on here, you'd think so. 
I'm not saying you should get a two bed, obviously, but don't assume your 11 year old child won't want to see you as views on here (and your friends) seem to suggest.  It may go like that, but it may not.  At 11 your daughter is still very much a child, not nearly an adult as I saw on here lol.

samps1973

@MovingForwards
Thanks for all your posts, you've been a great help Thank you 🙂

@deannagone
I see what your saying and what you went through must have been very painful at the time.
I myself had a bit of a troubled childhood. My mum left my violent dad when I was 9 and I didn't see him again till I was 21 when. I dreamt about meeting him for years and the dreams stopped when I did. When I did see him, lets just say I let him know I wasn't happy about what he was like and haven't seen him since. I think it's very important to have a good relationship with your father.
I see my daughter regularly and we are very close, even though she can be a madam sometimes 🙂
Now that I am trying to do a 100% mortgage I have no choice really. I can only afford a 1 bed but it's worth it in the long run. My daughter and I have talked about it and at first she wanted to stay where we live but once I explained the situation she was happy about it and understood. It will be a lot better than we have now as I only have a double room and an ensuite shower room. I explained that she could have the living room and I could have the bedroom. Shes more than happy with that. The only thing shes worried about is if we can have a fish tank 😀