Fix Ending November 2023

biscan25

I think you'd need to act today secure a fix at around 4% (these being based on market conditions around 23/09).
I'd get on the phone to a broker to see if they can secure you a good rate before they go up next week.

apessimistisneverdisappointed

My advice would be to get talking to a mortgage broker- we've used London & Country in the past and they were good, you can fill in an application online with all your income/expenditure info then follow up with them, they are open over the weekend too.

I just don't think people have time to just wait for an appointment next week/whenever; things are moving so quickly and products are disappearing so quickly.

Am sure that independent brokers are run off their feet right now, and it may be impossible to get an appointment any time soon.

Personally I wouldn't wait just to speak with your mortgage provider- speak to a broker now, preferably one who covers whole of the market, they should be able to advise regarding your specific circumstances with the ported mortgage etc.

Good luck, I think moving quickly is very important at the moment, but getting as good/specific advice as you can and then trying to make a rational/no panicked decision!

Holly_Kipper

CSL0183 said:

Holly_Kipper said:

Hi All. 

We are beginning to panic! 

Last week I rang HSBC to talk about coming out of our 2.15% fix early and paying a ERC charge which is £1060. 

They explained current rate was 3.93%, however couldn’t offer us an appointment until Monday 3rd October. 

We spoke with our mortgage advisor Monday who told us to hold fire as basically throwing our money into the fire and instead pay £1000 into our mortgage and anything extra we can contribute each month. 

Last night I decided to look at HSBC fixed rates again = 5.64% now making us £200 worse off per month 😩

*Do we just pay now to come out and fix onto the 5.64% 

* Overpay as much as we can 

* Stay as we are, save as much as we can and review start of next year/nearer to November 23

We also have a smaller mortgage with HSBC that we had when we moved in 2020 (5yr fixed) and the 2023 mortgage we ported over therefore I believe changing lenders isn’t an option

I know no one knows the future and I know overall it would be our decision, but what would you do in our position? 

What poor advice, I think anyone worth their salt could see it coming. 

You should still be able to fix at around 4% though. Speak to a broker or search around. 

I can’t see any HSBC deals at 4%? Happy to accept 4% if they have got a rate at that. 

Otherwise we will have to pay 2x ERC to leave HSBC completely, my other smaller amount mortgage is also at a good rate of 2.44% until 2025 

Holly_Kipper

apessimistisneverdisappointed said:

My advice would be to get talking to a mortgage broker- we've used London & Country in the past and they were good, you can fill in an application online with all your income/expenditure info then follow up with them, they are open over the weekend too.

I just don't think people have time to just wait for an appointment next week/whenever; things are moving so quickly and products are disappearing so quickly.

Am sure that independent brokers are run off their feet right now, and it may be impossible to get an appointment any time soon.

Personally I wouldn't wait just to speak with your mortgage provider- speak to a broker now, preferably one who covers whole of the market, they should be able to advise regarding your specific circumstances with the ported mortgage etc.

Good luck, I think moving quickly is very important at the moment, but getting as good/specific advice as you can and then trying to make a rational/no panicked decision!

Thank you!! Yes I agree I think it’s best to act soon, we have been in contact with two brokers now and they’ve both told us to wait for the moment

immortalduck

K_S said:

Holly_Kipper said:

Thank you K_S for your reply! 

Sorry I should of also said this on the original post, we also have another mortgage (smaller 5yr fix) that we had for when we brought our house in 2020, the mortgage ending 2023 we ported over. 

I believe we are unable to use any other lender? 

@holy_kipper That does change the calculations as you would need to pay around 2-3% ERC on that part if you wanted to change lenders so it might not make sense.

I can't really tell you what to do but I can tell you that HSBC will allow you to schedule a product-switch to kick in for up to 120 days in the future. So if you did decide to swallow the ERC and apply for a switch today, you could ask them for the switch to kick in only around late January, giving you a few more months on a low rate and reducing the ERC payable.

HSBC has quite flexible policies with regard to retirement age and term, so you could potentially also look at extending the term to reduce the monthly payments. 

@K_S Sorry to hijack this, but do you know what the rules are for Natwest in terms of when a product switch can be scheduled to kick in please?

My current fix is also up November 2023. ERC is currently 2% but drops to 1% after 30/11/2022. My ideal situation would probably be to arrange a product switch to kick in after the ERC drops to 1% (as hopefully would be less hassle than remortgaging with a different provider). However I'm finding it tough going with Natwest customer services in terms of finding out whether this is actually possible! 

Cheers!

K_S

immortalduck said:

K_S said:

Holly_Kipper said:

Thank you K_S for your reply! 

Sorry I should of also said this on the original post, we also have another mortgage (smaller 5yr fix) that we had for when we brought our house in 2020, the mortgage ending 2023 we ported over. 

I believe we are unable to use any other lender? 

@holy_kipper That does change the calculations as you would need to pay around 2-3% ERC on that part if you wanted to change lenders so it might not make sense.

I can't really tell you what to do but I can tell you that HSBC will allow you to schedule a product-switch to kick in for up to 120 days in the future. So if you did decide to swallow the ERC and apply for a switch today, you could ask them for the switch to kick in only around late January, giving you a few more months on a low rate and reducing the ERC payable.

HSBC has quite flexible policies with regard to retirement age and term, so you could potentially also look at extending the term to reduce the monthly payments. 

@K_S Sorry to hijack this, but do you know what the rules are for Natwest in terms of when a product switch can be scheduled to kick in please?

My current fix is also up November 2023. ERC is currently 2% but drops to 1% after 30/11/2022. My ideal situation would probably be to arrange a product switch to kick in after the ERC drops to 1% (as hopefully would be less hassle than remortgaging with a different provider). However I'm finding it tough going with Natwest customer services in terms of finding out whether this is actually possible! 

Cheers!

@immortalduck With no ERC involved, it's 6 months but when ERC if involved I'm not sure tbh. Off of the top of my head, if an ERC is involved NatWest only allows PTs direct. 

immortalduck

@K_S no worries and thanks for replying!

Based on the response from Natwest so far it appears that I would have to pay the ERC as it currently stands and there's no way of scheduling the PT to kick in later. I think I'll ask them again though just to make sure we were/are on the same page. Cheers!

baguettes

I would say at the very least it is worth getting a mortgage offer on the table from the best lender you can find (i.e. the best rate you can find).

We got a mortgage switch offer from Halifax (our current lender) today.

We are in a similar situation to many, currently on a 5 year fix at 2.2%, due to end June 2023 with an ERC of £1800 

Today we locked in a 5year fix offer of 3.49%. The offer is valid until 28th Feb 2023.

Our plan is to wait until 1st Feb to accept it and pay the ERC. This gives us 5 more months on our current fix that we can use the savings for to water down the ERC. Plus maybe some divine intervention will fall upon us and fix the economy by then, in which case we will cancel it and reevaluate.

Holly_Kipper

Just to update for anyone who reads this post. We had our appt with HSBC today which was useless! Never looked at alternatives for us to help us get by if the rate went up etc.. also said we are unable to complete a mortgage offer as that would expire in 30 days, also said for me to fix at 5.89 at 5years, why would I want to do that?! 

Thank you all for your advice we’ve decided to hold on and hope for the best and watching the rates closely