BTL mortgages for old(er) borrowers

cromse

Here’s a story which might interest those in their 70s trying to renew an expired 5-year fixed-term buy-to-let deal. We took out such a mortgage with BM Solutions on 17 November 2017. “We” here means 4 people who are two married couples. The term we requested was 10 years, so until 17.11.27. The fixed-term deal was however not exactly 5 years but expired on 31.12.22. We asked our broker to do a product transfer on to a new 5-year fix. Initially he said no problem. But when he plugged in our details, the 5-year fix was rejected, because by 31.12.22 there would be only 4 years and 10 months of the initial 10-year term left. So we asked him to extend the term by a further 2 or 3 months to avoid that complication. Initially (again) he said no problem. Then he said, sorry but no go because such an extension would, by a margin of THREE WHOLE WEEKS, take the term past the 80th birthday of the oldest borrower (the other three borrowers are younger so not affected by this). We asked if an exception could be made given that we are excellent customers with an unblemished record and have been BM customers on and off for 25 years or so. No, came the flat reply, not just from the broker but also from anyone at BM who was willing to speak to me. We were offered a 2-year fix instead, which we have accepted. In May 2025 we shall be able to transfer to a new 2-year, taking us to around June  2027, which will leave only the SVR for the final few months of the term. In the end we can/must live with this. It’s not a catastrophe, but it will cost us more obviously. I don’t know if I am entitled to be annoyed but I am. Should I have realised back in 2017 that this was inevitably going to happen? Should our broker have pointed it out? Are BM Solutions being reasonable? I don’t think so. 

housebuyer143

cromse said:

Here’s a story which might interest those in their 70s trying to renew an expired 5-year fixed-term buy-to-let deal. We took out such a mortgage with BM Solutions on 17 November 2017. “We” here means 4 people who are two married couples. The term we requested was 10 years, so until 17.11.27. The fixed-term deal was however not exactly 5 years but expired on 31.12.22. We asked our broker to do a product transfer on to a new 5-year fix. Initially he said no problem. But when he plugged in our details, the 5-year fix was rejected, because by 31.12.22 there would be only 4 years and 10 months of the initial 10-year term left. So we asked him to extend the term by a further 2 or 3 months to avoid that complication. Initially (again) he said no problem. Then he said, sorry but no go because such an extension would, by a margin of THREE WHOLE WEEKS, take the term past the 80th birthday of the oldest borrower (the other three borrowers are younger so not affected by this). We asked if an exception could be made given that we are excellent customers with an unblemished record and have been BM customers on and off for 25 years or so. No, came the flat reply, not just from the broker but also from anyone at BM who was willing to speak to me. We were offered a 2-year fix instead, which we have accepted. In May 2025 we shall be able to transfer to a new 2-year, taking us to around June  2027, which will leave only the SVR for the final few months of the term. In the end we can/must live with this. It’s not a catastrophe, but it will cost us more obviously. I don’t know if I am entitled to be annoyed but I am. Should I have realised back in 2017 that this was inevitably going to happen? Should our broker have pointed it out? Are BM Solutions being reasonable? I don’t think so. 

Yes you should have realised, BMs term and age policy is clear as day. They are not going to change any criteria to aid you. 
The original broker wasn't to know you planned to remortgage for 5 years at the end.

No one to blame, it's one of those things.

chanz4

Happy days with buy to let, not all profit