Remortgaging - Barclays won't give exact figure

Mnoee

My fixed term ends in six months, so I'll be remortgaging for the first time soon. I am following the mse guide (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/getting-ready-remortgage/) and at point 5 it says get an exact figure from your current lender. I called Barclays and they 'can't' tell me, until 30 days before. It's a fixed rate that I make regular payments to, it's absolutely just maths that I can (and now have!) done myself, but I know many people wouldn't know where to start when calculating daily interest rates.

Is this normal? Is the guide completely out of touch, or are Barclays just being their usual 'helpful' selves? 

As I said, first time remortgaging, maybe when I've got a remortgage offer they'll be able to get the exact amount or something, I'm just following along the guide and wondering what's going on! 

Exodi

I've seen this type of question a few times recently.

AFAIK most lenders will not provide such a figure. They have no way of knowing whether you will make over-payments, request a payment holiday, miss a payment, take up the government charter to go IO for a few months, etc. Even if they covered the whole thing in caveats, there also seems no benefit to them providing an estimate, but a lot of risks for doing so when they inevitably receive complaints for providing the wrong indicative redemption figure.

When I last swapped product with Nationwide, I noted that the balance they stated was just the balance at the time I submitted the application, so it's certainly not just Barclays. Others have confirmed that other lenders do this also - I'm not sure which lenders are happy to grab their crystal ball and provide a redemption figure many months into the future, but I'd imagine it's not many.

Mnoee

Thanks, just the guide being a bit wrong then! I should have searched the forum, but I appreciate the quick and helpful reply nonetheless. 

Hoenir

Mnoee said:

Is this normal? Is the guide completely out of touch, or are Barclays just being their usual 'helpful' selves? 

Completely normal. As an example. You might cancel your direct debit and not pay them. Then claim that you've been provided with a definitive redemption figure. Until the day it's a movable target. Hence why sdolicitors leave it as late as is possible. Any excess funds drawn can be repaid and reduce the mortgage balance.