Stoozing and remortgaging

owl1999

Hi all, a question for other stoozers

We have been taking advantage of a low interest mortgage with increased stoozing, rather than making overpayments on the mortgage. Me and my partner have around £27k in savings but about £20k on 0% credit cards.

Unfortunately we are due to remortgage in 5 months. If we stay with Santander and don't change the product/length of the mortgage they won't credit check us or go full application. They have a fairly competitive rate but I'm mindful if I go to a broker we may get a better deal and they will charge us less than the £999 fee banks tend to charge.

What would others do? Will we be accepted for a mortgage with such debts as long as our savings are higher than our debts? We will qualify for a 60% loan to value and our borrowing power will far exceed the £95k we need to borrow.

I'm thinking of locking in a rate with Santander and making a concrete decision nearer the time when we could just pay off lump sums if we get a much better offer from a broker.

Thanks for reading and appreciate any thoughts

NorwichMan

It's not clear to me why your existing mortgage rate would have any influence on your stoozing? Your choice to overpay or not should be independent of stoozing activity, assuming you're putting your stooze pot in a savings account? Or do you mean you're letting interest in such savings accumulate, rather than using it to overpay?

In general, you should be able to find out what sort of offer you might get with Santander, and also compare this with other providers, perhaps using a broker, without the need for any hard checks on your credit files. If you can see better offers elsewhere, you might consider calling them and asking how much difference it would make to an application if you pay off all the (presumably 0%) credit card debt beforehand. That might help your decision-making.

I personally would probably be, in any case, paying off all card balances at least six months before a (re)mortgage application, probably more like 12 months. But I do tend to be quite cautious.

If you do choose to pay off the cards, be aware it might take up to a few months before the card issuers notify the CRAs and for your files to be updated. I would want to check that has happened (and ideally at least another two or three months of paying balances in full) before making a (re)mortgage application. Your credit history will feed into their assessment of affordability and risk. I think also that, in general, mortgage lenders may tend to reduce the amount they are willing to lend if you have existing debts.

born_again

owl1999 said:

Hi all, a question for other stoozers

We have been taking advantage of a low interest mortgage with increased stoozing, rather than making overpayments on the mortgage. Me and my partner have around £27k in savings but about £20k on 0% credit cards.

Unfortunately we are due to remortgage in 5 months. If we stay with Santander and don't change the product/length of the mortgage they won't credit check us or go full application. They have a fairly competitive rate but I'm mindful if I go to a broker we may get a better deal and they will charge us less than the £999 fee banks tend to charge.

What would others do? Will we be accepted for a mortgage with such debts as long as our savings are higher than our debts? We will qualify for a 60% loan to value and our borrowing power will far exceed the £95k we need to borrow.

I'm thinking of locking in a rate with Santander and making a concrete decision nearer the time when we could just pay off lump sums if we get a much better offer from a broker.

Thanks for reading and appreciate any thoughts

Just go for the nice easy rate change. 
Remortgage will look at debt, & not savings.

ZeroSum

The usual £999 fee is only applicable if you have a bigger mortgage & it works out better on the lower rate. The same fees exist with brokers. If your current provider is offering competitive rates then stick with them, as you'll likely have some small fees for switching anyway

BoGoF

Nobody sees your savings, only your debt when applying for credit.

retro1981

Hi what did you end up doing?