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5-year fixed coming to an in Oct 2023

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  • K_S
    K_S Posts: 6,879 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 18 September 2022 at 6:29PM
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saucer Apologies, I know very little about FD as it's a direct only lender.

    As far as their parent company (HSBC) is concerned, the remortgage offer is valid for 6 months from offer date and there is no standard process to extend it beyond that.
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 You're lucky that you're with HSBC, as their pro-rated ERC structure gives you a lot more flexibility when compared to other lenders who charge a certain amount until the very last day of the fixed period.

    With respect to the period up to which you can potentially 'lock-in' a rate, with most mainstream lenders you have a 6 month validity on the remortgage offer, which is either from the date of application or the date of offer. A couple of lenders will also have fixed product end dates which are updated every 3 months or so, so based on timing you can get an offer validity of anywhere between 5-7 months or so.

    To go beyond that, some lenders will allow you to stretch that period through an extension to the initial offer which (depending on the specific lender) can be an additional 1 month, 3 months or even 6 months (which is what I meant by 6+6). Nationwide will allow you to 'reserve' a rate at DIP stage for 90 days, and when the offer is issued you get another 6 months, so effectively you could stretch a Nationwide product for around 8 months.

    I would certainly recommend considering the use of a broker as some of the above (like the Nationwide product reservation) is only available to brokers afaik, but do be clear to them about what you're trying to achieve here so that they can advise you accordingly.
    Saint84 said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 If your main worry is radically higher interest rates same time next year, you have a few more options.

    - You could lock in a rate now by getting a remortgage offer (free val, free legals, any fee added to the loan) that will be valid to 6/7/9 months in the future. And then when you have a month left until expiry do the numbers again and reassess whether it might be worth paying the ERC and remortgaging or avoiding ERC and doing a product switch or remortgage.

    - you could also wait to November/December and then lock in a remortgage rate with a lender that will consider 6+6 months validity allowing you to use it to remortgage in October 2023.

    There are quite a few different approaches to minimising the risk, if you have a broker it's something they should be able to help with.

    Hi @K_S, ah - I did not even consider that as an option. I just checked my mortage details:

    - it ends in Nov 2023
    - i can lock in a new deal in 4 months

    i did not appreciate that you can get a re-mortgage offer up to 6-7-9 months in advance. i assume then because i have less months to expiry there is a much reduced ERC?

    regarding the second option - what does 6+6 month validity means?

    is it best if i speak to a broker about all of this rather than speaking to individuals banks i assume? quite new to this area, so any advice would be appreciated.

    Without wanting to gate crash the OPs thread I wanted to ask a question about your suggestion. I am similarly in the process of remortgaging with First Direct. We are on a cheap tracker but, unlike the OP, it has years to run. I’m concerned where rates are going so a fix seems sensible. If they offer us the fix, can we ask for it or be delayed? How do we find out how long they will reliably honour it (beyond just asking)? Thanks 


    That's really helpful thank you.  I have an appointment with a FD mortgage advisor on Thursday (fortuitiously before the BoE announcement).  I'll keep that option up my sleeve.  It would be great to think we might be able to stick with our current variable (BoE +.49) for a few months to see how it goes.  We can all see scenarios where inflation runs away and they need to keep increasing rates, but also where the recession makes decreases (albeit not to where we were ) a bit more likely.  My gut feeling is that it is safer to fix at a 3.6% or so rather than stay on the tracker but it is a close run thing.  
    @saucer Sorry to be pedantic but its an important distinction. Is this a remortgage (changing to a new lender) or a product-transfer/product-switch/rate-switch/PT (staying with the same lender). The 3.6% rate seems quite low for a remortgage rate but par for the course for a PT rate if you're already with FD.

    I don't know about FD but for an HSBC product-transfer, the longest that they will allow you to delay the switch on a PT is 4 months (120 days to be precise).

    Pedantic is good, and sorry to the OP if I have hi-jacked their thread a bit :-).  I appreciate your thoughts.:smile:
    You are right that it is not a remortgage but a product switch.  3.6 is what it is showing at the moment but that could change through the week.  Looking on the website they say that the Agreement in Principle lasts 6 months but, for me, the crucial bit is the reservation of the rate which they don't do until the next meeting which is the 'mortgage advisor' call.  I am assuming they will ask me to book the rate subject to the £449 fee at that point.  It would be great if that secures the rate for some months, but that almost seems too good to be true. Do you think they will be happy to tell me explicitly?
    Thank you again

    @saucer Ah ok, that makes sense. If 3.6% was a remo rate, they'd be overrun with new business! I've been busy securing a couple of HSBC remos and PTs this weekend for my clients as they are upping rates from Tuesday. Hopefully it's not the same for FD!

    Are you borrowing more or specifically asked for advice? I'd have thought you'd be able to do a PT online on a non-advised basis.

    To answer your question, yes of course, I can't think of any reason why a mainstream lender couldn't answer that question clearly.

    I am a Mortgage Adviser - You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. 

    PLEASE DO NOT SEND PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.

  • We did an online app with FD which is then followed up with a phone call, you pay the fee and the rate is secured for 6 months which for us we did almost on the exact calendar day 6 months before our Barclays fix is up. We had conversations with FD before 6 months but they were very clear an offer would not last longer than 6 months (and their fix/fees were cheaper than any broker was offering).

    Barclays who we are with now would not tell us any transfer/rate switch offers until end Sept/Oct so we made the decision to pay the fee with FD and know if Barclays offered us something we wanted we would lose the FD fee we have paid. Barclays offers have just come through and there are poorly 5 year fixes compared to FD although an appealing 10 yr fix but as this is close to our overall term it's too risky as we think we can get pretty close to paying off our mortgage in 5 years as FD have unlimited overpayments.
  • simon_or
    simon_or Posts: 890 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 19 September 2022 at 7:46AM
    It's usually 6 months for remortgages and 3-6 months for switching products with the same bank.
    I have a BTL fix ending in May 2023 and my broker put in an application with a bank gives 6 months validity plus a 3 month extension so I've lock in a rate for almost 9 months and avoid ERC. Saved me thousands of pounds and my peace of mind. She said there are even options which can be used to lock in a rate 11 months in advance.
  • saucer
    saucer Posts: 500 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 19 September 2022 at 2:35PM
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saucer Apologies, I know very little about FD as it's a direct only lender.

    As far as their parent company (HSBC) is concerned, the remortgage offer is valid for 6 months from offer date and there is no standard process to extend it beyond that.
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 You're lucky that you're with HSBC, as their pro-rated ERC structure gives you a lot more flexibility when compared to other lenders who charge a certain amount until the very last day of the fixed period.

    With respect to the period up to which you can potentially 'lock-in' a rate, with most mainstream lenders you have a 6 month validity on the remortgage offer, which is either from the date of application or the date of offer. A couple of lenders will also have fixed product end dates which are updated every 3 months or so, so based on timing you can get an offer validity of anywhere between 5-7 months or so.

    To go beyond that, some lenders will allow you to stretch that period through an extension to the initial offer which (depending on the specific lender) can be an additional 1 month, 3 months or even 6 months (which is what I meant by 6+6). Nationwide will allow you to 'reserve' a rate at DIP stage for 90 days, and when the offer is issued you get another 6 months, so effectively you could stretch a Nationwide product for around 8 months.

    I would certainly recommend considering the use of a broker as some of the above (like the Nationwide product reservation) is only available to brokers afaik, but do be clear to them about what you're trying to achieve here so that they can advise you accordingly.
    Saint84 said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 If your main worry is radically higher interest rates same time next year, you have a few more options.

    - You could lock in a rate now by getting a remortgage offer (free val, free legals, any fee added to the loan) that will be valid to 6/7/9 months in the future. And then when you have a month left until expiry do the numbers again and reassess whether it might be worth paying the ERC and remortgaging or avoiding ERC and doing a product switch or remortgage.

    - you could also wait to November/December and then lock in a remortgage rate with a lender that will consider 6+6 months validity allowing you to use it to remortgage in October 2023.

    There are quite a few different approaches to minimising the risk, if you have a broker it's something they should be able to help with.

    Hi @K_S, ah - I did not even consider that as an option. I just checked my mortage details:

    - it ends in Nov 2023
    - i can lock in a new deal in 4 months

    i did not appreciate that you can get a re-mortgage offer up to 6-7-9 months in advance. i assume then because i have less months to expiry there is a much reduced ERC?

    regarding the second option - what does 6+6 month validity means?

    is it best if i speak to a broker about all of this rather than speaking to individuals banks i assume? quite new to this area, so any advice would be appreciated.

    Without wanting to gate crash the OPs thread I wanted to ask a question about your suggestion. I am similarly in the process of remortgaging with First Direct. We are on a cheap tracker but, unlike the OP, it has years to run. I’m concerned where rates are going so a fix seems sensible. If they offer us the fix, can we ask for it or be delayed? How do we find out how long they will reliably honour it (beyond just asking)? Thanks 


    That's really helpful thank you.  I have an appointment with a FD mortgage advisor on Thursday (fortuitiously before the BoE announcement).  I'll keep that option up my sleeve.  It would be great to think we might be able to stick with our current variable (BoE +.49) for a few months to see how it goes.  We can all see scenarios where inflation runs away and they need to keep increasing rates, but also where the recession makes decreases (albeit not to where we were ) a bit more likely.  My gut feeling is that it is safer to fix at a 3.6% or so rather than stay on the tracker but it is a close run thing.  
    @saucer Sorry to be pedantic but its an important distinction. Is this a remortgage (changing to a new lender) or a product-transfer/product-switch/rate-switch/PT (staying with the same lender). The 3.6% rate seems quite low for a remortgage rate but par for the course for a PT rate if you're already with FD.

    I don't know about FD but for an HSBC product-transfer, the longest that they will allow you to delay the switch on a PT is 4 months (120 days to be precise).

    Pedantic is good, and sorry to the OP if I have hi-jacked their thread a bit :-).  I appreciate your thoughts.:smile:
    You are right that it is not a remortgage but a product switch.  3.6 is what it is showing at the moment but that could change through the week.  Looking on the website they say that the Agreement in Principle lasts 6 months but, for me, the crucial bit is the reservation of the rate which they don't do until the next meeting which is the 'mortgage advisor' call.  I am assuming they will ask me to book the rate subject to the £449 fee at that point.  It would be great if that secures the rate for some months, but that almost seems too good to be true. Do you think they will be happy to tell me explicitly?
    Thank you again

    @saucer Ah ok, that makes sense. If 3.6% was a remo rate, they'd be overrun with new business! I've been busy securing a couple of HSBC remos and PTs this weekend for my clients as they are upping rates from Tuesday. Hopefully it's not the same for FD!

    Are you borrowing more or specifically asked for advice? I'd have thought you'd be able to do a PT online on a non-advised basis.

    To answer your question, yes of course, I can't think of any reason why a mainstream lender couldn't answer that question clearly.
     You're not allowed apply online as an existing customer, which seems a bit strange. I had the AIP 2 weeks ago and it took until Friday for them to accept my documents.  Its only then that you can book the apt with the mortgage advisor, and only then that you book the rate.  I would be frustrated if the rate goes up again tomorrow, especially as I started this process when the 5 year fix was 3.18%, but probably not a lot I can do, and its all 1st world problems. 
  • K_S
    K_S Posts: 6,879 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saucer Apologies, I know very little about FD as it's a direct only lender.

    As far as their parent company (HSBC) is concerned, the remortgage offer is valid for 6 months from offer date and there is no standard process to extend it beyond that.
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 You're lucky that you're with HSBC, as their pro-rated ERC structure gives you a lot more flexibility when compared to other lenders who charge a certain amount until the very last day of the fixed period.

    With respect to the period up to which you can potentially 'lock-in' a rate, with most mainstream lenders you have a 6 month validity on the remortgage offer, which is either from the date of application or the date of offer. A couple of lenders will also have fixed product end dates which are updated every 3 months or so, so based on timing you can get an offer validity of anywhere between 5-7 months or so.

    To go beyond that, some lenders will allow you to stretch that period through an extension to the initial offer which (depending on the specific lender) can be an additional 1 month, 3 months or even 6 months (which is what I meant by 6+6). Nationwide will allow you to 'reserve' a rate at DIP stage for 90 days, and when the offer is issued you get another 6 months, so effectively you could stretch a Nationwide product for around 8 months.

    I would certainly recommend considering the use of a broker as some of the above (like the Nationwide product reservation) is only available to brokers afaik, but do be clear to them about what you're trying to achieve here so that they can advise you accordingly.
    Saint84 said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 If your main worry is radically higher interest rates same time next year, you have a few more options.

    - You could lock in a rate now by getting a remortgage offer (free val, free legals, any fee added to the loan) that will be valid to 6/7/9 months in the future. And then when you have a month left until expiry do the numbers again and reassess whether it might be worth paying the ERC and remortgaging or avoiding ERC and doing a product switch or remortgage.

    - you could also wait to November/December and then lock in a remortgage rate with a lender that will consider 6+6 months validity allowing you to use it to remortgage in October 2023.

    There are quite a few different approaches to minimising the risk, if you have a broker it's something they should be able to help with.

    Hi @K_S, ah - I did not even consider that as an option. I just checked my mortage details:

    - it ends in Nov 2023
    - i can lock in a new deal in 4 months

    i did not appreciate that you can get a re-mortgage offer up to 6-7-9 months in advance. i assume then because i have less months to expiry there is a much reduced ERC?

    regarding the second option - what does 6+6 month validity means?

    is it best if i speak to a broker about all of this rather than speaking to individuals banks i assume? quite new to this area, so any advice would be appreciated.

    Without wanting to gate crash the OPs thread I wanted to ask a question about your suggestion. I am similarly in the process of remortgaging with First Direct. We are on a cheap tracker but, unlike the OP, it has years to run. I’m concerned where rates are going so a fix seems sensible. If they offer us the fix, can we ask for it or be delayed? How do we find out how long they will reliably honour it (beyond just asking)? Thanks 


    That's really helpful thank you.  I have an appointment with a FD mortgage advisor on Thursday (fortuitiously before the BoE announcement).  I'll keep that option up my sleeve.  It would be great to think we might be able to stick with our current variable (BoE +.49) for a few months to see how it goes.  We can all see scenarios where inflation runs away and they need to keep increasing rates, but also where the recession makes decreases (albeit not to where we were ) a bit more likely.  My gut feeling is that it is safer to fix at a 3.6% or so rather than stay on the tracker but it is a close run thing.  
    @saucer Sorry to be pedantic but its an important distinction. Is this a remortgage (changing to a new lender) or a product-transfer/product-switch/rate-switch/PT (staying with the same lender). The 3.6% rate seems quite low for a remortgage rate but par for the course for a PT rate if you're already with FD.

    I don't know about FD but for an HSBC product-transfer, the longest that they will allow you to delay the switch on a PT is 4 months (120 days to be precise).

    Pedantic is good, and sorry to the OP if I have hi-jacked their thread a bit :-).  I appreciate your thoughts.:smile:
    You are right that it is not a remortgage but a product switch.  3.6 is what it is showing at the moment but that could change through the week.  Looking on the website they say that the Agreement in Principle lasts 6 months but, for me, the crucial bit is the reservation of the rate which they don't do until the next meeting which is the 'mortgage advisor' call.  I am assuming they will ask me to book the rate subject to the £449 fee at that point.  It would be great if that secures the rate for some months, but that almost seems too good to be true. Do you think they will be happy to tell me explicitly?
    Thank you again

    @saucer Ah ok, that makes sense. If 3.6% was a remo rate, they'd be overrun with new business! I've been busy securing a couple of HSBC remos and PTs this weekend for my clients as they are upping rates from Tuesday. Hopefully it's not the same for FD!

    Are you borrowing more or specifically asked for advice? I'd have thought you'd be able to do a PT online on a non-advised basis.

    To answer your question, yes of course, I can't think of any reason why a mainstream lender couldn't answer that question clearly.
    You're not allowed apply online as an existing customer, which seems a bit strange. I had the AIP 2 weeks ago and it took until Friday for them to accept my documents.  Its only then that you can book the apt with the mortgage advisor, and only then that you book the rate.  I would be frustrated if the rate goes up again tomorrow, especially as I started this process when the 5 year fix was 3.18%, but probably not a lot I can do, and its all 1st world problems. 
    @saucer Very surprised to hear that tbh. Good luck, hope you are able to secure a rate soon! 

    I am a Mortgage Adviser - You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. 

    PLEASE DO NOT SEND PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.

  • saucer
    saucer Posts: 500 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saucer Apologies, I know very little about FD as it's a direct only lender.

    As far as their parent company (HSBC) is concerned, the remortgage offer is valid for 6 months from offer date and there is no standard process to extend it beyond that.
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 You're lucky that you're with HSBC, as their pro-rated ERC structure gives you a lot more flexibility when compared to other lenders who charge a certain amount until the very last day of the fixed period.

    With respect to the period up to which you can potentially 'lock-in' a rate, with most mainstream lenders you have a 6 month validity on the remortgage offer, which is either from the date of application or the date of offer. A couple of lenders will also have fixed product end dates which are updated every 3 months or so, so based on timing you can get an offer validity of anywhere between 5-7 months or so.

    To go beyond that, some lenders will allow you to stretch that period through an extension to the initial offer which (depending on the specific lender) can be an additional 1 month, 3 months or even 6 months (which is what I meant by 6+6). Nationwide will allow you to 'reserve' a rate at DIP stage for 90 days, and when the offer is issued you get another 6 months, so effectively you could stretch a Nationwide product for around 8 months.

    I would certainly recommend considering the use of a broker as some of the above (like the Nationwide product reservation) is only available to brokers afaik, but do be clear to them about what you're trying to achieve here so that they can advise you accordingly.
    Saint84 said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 If your main worry is radically higher interest rates same time next year, you have a few more options.

    - You could lock in a rate now by getting a remortgage offer (free val, free legals, any fee added to the loan) that will be valid to 6/7/9 months in the future. And then when you have a month left until expiry do the numbers again and reassess whether it might be worth paying the ERC and remortgaging or avoiding ERC and doing a product switch or remortgage.

    - you could also wait to November/December and then lock in a remortgage rate with a lender that will consider 6+6 months validity allowing you to use it to remortgage in October 2023.

    There are quite a few different approaches to minimising the risk, if you have a broker it's something they should be able to help with.

    Hi @K_S, ah - I did not even consider that as an option. I just checked my mortage details:

    - it ends in Nov 2023
    - i can lock in a new deal in 4 months

    i did not appreciate that you can get a re-mortgage offer up to 6-7-9 months in advance. i assume then because i have less months to expiry there is a much reduced ERC?

    regarding the second option - what does 6+6 month validity means?

    is it best if i speak to a broker about all of this rather than speaking to individuals banks i assume? quite new to this area, so any advice would be appreciated.

    Without wanting to gate crash the OPs thread I wanted to ask a question about your suggestion. I am similarly in the process of remortgaging with First Direct. We are on a cheap tracker but, unlike the OP, it has years to run. I’m concerned where rates are going so a fix seems sensible. If they offer us the fix, can we ask for it or be delayed? How do we find out how long they will reliably honour it (beyond just asking)? Thanks 


    That's really helpful thank you.  I have an appointment with a FD mortgage advisor on Thursday (fortuitiously before the BoE announcement).  I'll keep that option up my sleeve.  It would be great to think we might be able to stick with our current variable (BoE +.49) for a few months to see how it goes.  We can all see scenarios where inflation runs away and they need to keep increasing rates, but also where the recession makes decreases (albeit not to where we were ) a bit more likely.  My gut feeling is that it is safer to fix at a 3.6% or so rather than stay on the tracker but it is a close run thing.  
    @saucer Sorry to be pedantic but its an important distinction. Is this a remortgage (changing to a new lender) or a product-transfer/product-switch/rate-switch/PT (staying with the same lender). The 3.6% rate seems quite low for a remortgage rate but par for the course for a PT rate if you're already with FD.

    I don't know about FD but for an HSBC product-transfer, the longest that they will allow you to delay the switch on a PT is 4 months (120 days to be precise).

    Pedantic is good, and sorry to the OP if I have hi-jacked their thread a bit :-).  I appreciate your thoughts.:smile:
    You are right that it is not a remortgage but a product switch.  3.6 is what it is showing at the moment but that could change through the week.  Looking on the website they say that the Agreement in Principle lasts 6 months but, for me, the crucial bit is the reservation of the rate which they don't do until the next meeting which is the 'mortgage advisor' call.  I am assuming they will ask me to book the rate subject to the £449 fee at that point.  It would be great if that secures the rate for some months, but that almost seems too good to be true. Do you think they will be happy to tell me explicitly?
    Thank you again

    @saucer Ah ok, that makes sense. If 3.6% was a remo rate, they'd be overrun with new business! I've been busy securing a couple of HSBC remos and PTs this weekend for my clients as they are upping rates from Tuesday. Hopefully it's not the same for FD!

    Are you borrowing more or specifically asked for advice? I'd have thought you'd be able to do a PT online on a non-advised basis.

    To answer your question, yes of course, I can't think of any reason why a mainstream lender couldn't answer that question clearly.
    You're not allowed apply online as an existing customer, which seems a bit strange. I had the AIP 2 weeks ago and it took until Friday for them to accept my documents.  Its only then that you can book the apt with the mortgage advisor, and only then that you book the rate.  I would be frustrated if the rate goes up again tomorrow, especially as I started this process when the 5 year fix was 3.18%, but probably not a lot I can do, and its all 1st world problems. 
    @saucer Very surprised to hear that tbh. Good luck, hope you are able to secure a rate soon! 
    That’s what they told me but it may be something to do with my change of product or something else particular to my circumstances 
  • saucer
    saucer Posts: 500 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saucer Apologies, I know very little about FD as it's a direct only lender.

    As far as their parent company (HSBC) is concerned, the remortgage offer is valid for 6 months from offer date and there is no standard process to extend it beyond that.
    saucer said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 You're lucky that you're with HSBC, as their pro-rated ERC structure gives you a lot more flexibility when compared to other lenders who charge a certain amount until the very last day of the fixed period.

    With respect to the period up to which you can potentially 'lock-in' a rate, with most mainstream lenders you have a 6 month validity on the remortgage offer, which is either from the date of application or the date of offer. A couple of lenders will also have fixed product end dates which are updated every 3 months or so, so based on timing you can get an offer validity of anywhere between 5-7 months or so.

    To go beyond that, some lenders will allow you to stretch that period through an extension to the initial offer which (depending on the specific lender) can be an additional 1 month, 3 months or even 6 months (which is what I meant by 6+6). Nationwide will allow you to 'reserve' a rate at DIP stage for 90 days, and when the offer is issued you get another 6 months, so effectively you could stretch a Nationwide product for around 8 months.

    I would certainly recommend considering the use of a broker as some of the above (like the Nationwide product reservation) is only available to brokers afaik, but do be clear to them about what you're trying to achieve here so that they can advise you accordingly.
    Saint84 said:
    K_S said:
    @saint84 If your main worry is radically higher interest rates same time next year, you have a few more options.

    - You could lock in a rate now by getting a remortgage offer (free val, free legals, any fee added to the loan) that will be valid to 6/7/9 months in the future. And then when you have a month left until expiry do the numbers again and reassess whether it might be worth paying the ERC and remortgaging or avoiding ERC and doing a product switch or remortgage.

    - you could also wait to November/December and then lock in a remortgage rate with a lender that will consider 6+6 months validity allowing you to use it to remortgage in October 2023.

    There are quite a few different approaches to minimising the risk, if you have a broker it's something they should be able to help with.

    Hi @K_S, ah - I did not even consider that as an option. I just checked my mortage details:

    - it ends in Nov 2023
    - i can lock in a new deal in 4 months

    i did not appreciate that you can get a re-mortgage offer up to 6-7-9 months in advance. i assume then because i have less months to expiry there is a much reduced ERC?

    regarding the second option - what does 6+6 month validity means?

    is it best if i speak to a broker about all of this rather than speaking to individuals banks i assume? quite new to this area, so any advice would be appreciated.

    Without wanting to gate crash the OPs thread I wanted to ask a question about your suggestion. I am similarly in the process of remortgaging with First Direct. We are on a cheap tracker but, unlike the OP, it has years to run. I’m concerned where rates are going so a fix seems sensible. If they offer us the fix, can we ask for it or be delayed? How do we find out how long they will reliably honour it (beyond just asking)? Thanks 


    That's really helpful thank you.  I have an appointment with a FD mortgage advisor on Thursday (fortuitiously before the BoE announcement).  I'll keep that option up my sleeve.  It would be great to think we might be able to stick with our current variable (BoE +.49) for a few months to see how it goes.  We can all see scenarios where inflation runs away and they need to keep increasing rates, but also where the recession makes decreases (albeit not to where we were ) a bit more likely.  My gut feeling is that it is safer to fix at a 3.6% or so rather than stay on the tracker but it is a close run thing.  
    @saucer Sorry to be pedantic but its an important distinction. Is this a remortgage (changing to a new lender) or a product-transfer/product-switch/rate-switch/PT (staying with the same lender). The 3.6% rate seems quite low for a remortgage rate but par for the course for a PT rate if you're already with FD.

    I don't know about FD but for an HSBC product-transfer, the longest that they will allow you to delay the switch on a PT is 4 months (120 days to be precise).

    Pedantic is good, and sorry to the OP if I have hi-jacked their thread a bit :-).  I appreciate your thoughts.:smile:
    You are right that it is not a remortgage but a product switch.  3.6 is what it is showing at the moment but that could change through the week.  Looking on the website they say that the Agreement in Principle lasts 6 months but, for me, the crucial bit is the reservation of the rate which they don't do until the next meeting which is the 'mortgage advisor' call.  I am assuming they will ask me to book the rate subject to the £449 fee at that point.  It would be great if that secures the rate for some months, but that almost seems too good to be true. Do you think they will be happy to tell me explicitly?
    Thank you again

    @saucer Ah ok, that makes sense. If 3.6% was a remo rate, they'd be overrun with new business! I've been busy securing a couple of HSBC remos and PTs this weekend for my clients as they are upping rates from Tuesday. Hopefully it's not the same for FD!

    Are you borrowing more or specifically asked for advice? I'd have thought you'd be able to do a PT online on a non-advised basis.

    To answer your question, yes of course, I can't think of any reason why a mainstream lender couldn't answer that question clearly.
    You're not allowed apply online as an existing customer, which seems a bit strange. I had the AIP 2 weeks ago and it took until Friday for them to accept my documents.  Its only then that you can book the apt with the mortgage advisor, and only then that you book the rate.  I would be frustrated if the rate goes up again tomorrow, especially as I started this process when the 5 year fix was 3.18%, but probably not a lot I can do, and its all 1st world problems. 
    @saucer Very surprised to hear that tbh. Good luck, hope you are able to secure a rate soon! 

    I'm relieved to have secured 3.6% today fixed for 5 years with FD.  I have to say they have been excellent, if a little slow.  I can confirm that I have been told that, having paid the £490 arrangement fee, that we can hold off for 6 months before taking the mortgage.  I don't see that there is a lot of point as I think they are going up more and for longer. 
  • Saint84
    Saint84 Posts: 103 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    I got a 3.65 percent deal agreed in principle yesterday. The rates then went up today.  Application done today does that mean I can still secure the 3.65 rate. 
  • K_S
    K_S Posts: 6,879 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Saint84 said:
    I got a 3.65 percent deal agreed in principle yesterday. The rates then went up today.  Application done today does that mean I can still secure the 3.65 rate. 
    @saint84 Is this a remortgage (changing to a new lender) or product-switch (staying with the same lender). 

    Usually with a remortgage you secure a rate when you submit a full application. With a product-switch it should be a matter of a few-clicks and all done.

    In any case, when you submitted the full application today it should have shown you what rate you are applying for.

    I am a Mortgage Adviser - You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. 

    PLEASE DO NOT SEND PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.

  • Saint84
    Saint84 Posts: 103 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    It was via a broker.

    he said AIP done yesterday. Full application done today but he he saying waiting for funds to be allocated. It’s an automated system and will check tommorow.

    He says the rate has been secured… 
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