Remortgaging - worried about CC debt, best way to tackle?

geordie83

Hi,

We are coming to the end of a 5-year fix in January, so are entering the 6 month window. Annoyingly, our current lender (Virgin) won't discuss product transfer etc until 4 months before. We currently owe £202k, online house valuation (Zoopla) is £336k. 

My wife and I have good jobs, a combined income of £90k, but I do have a significant amount (£18k) of CC debt, which I am worrying about. It is all interest free for at least 12+mths. Most of the debt came from home improvements since buying our property (we have spent upwards of £40k - new kitchen, bathrooms, electrics etc). We also added £12k of solar pv and battery storage last year, which means we pay very little (£80/mth) for energy on average throughout the year.

Admittedly I let the debt get too high, but am now trying to rectify and and am currently paying it off at £1300/mth, so I have no doubt it will be cleared, just not in time for remortgaging. We do have ~£6k in savings (I have been putting the £140 monthly family allowance into an account for the kids), and am weighing up whether it would be wise to use this now to reduce the CC debt prior to remortgage, and repay it afterwards. I would value others opinions.  

With regards to the remortgage, we will likely enlist a mortgage advisor, however internally I am inclined to stay with the current lender due to the simplified process, fewer affordability checks etc. Again, I would value opinions.  

Many thanks! 

ACG

Dont worry about it. 
My mortgage is with Virgin, I am stuck with Virgin as we had a baby and my Mrs went part time so my options are a little slim. You can swithc products with virgin and the debt wont be an issue. As a broker its quite easy to witch products (not sure about as a customer - I did it as a broker as they pay me). 

But the debt you have compared to your incomes is not too bad. It could be better but its not enough to worry about. I doubt lenders will have too much of a problem with it. 

geordie83

Thank you for the reassurance, especially from
a mortgage adviser. 

I will speak to our adviser and see if there are product transfers he can access which we can’t. I’ve done a few comparisons and Virgin don’t seem too bad price-wise. 

Just need to decide whether to go tracker or 2-year fix now. Any thoughts on that? 

Thanks again 

RelievedSheff

See a broker. They should find the best deals available for you.

Having some debt doesn't mean you can't get a good mortgage rate.