Halifax mortgage - deal ending

dont_use_vistaprint

Hi, I have a small mortgage with Halifax that ends at the end of July. Properties worth around 345,000 mortgage is 36,000 currently at 4.68%

They have a tool in the app to switch but the best it’s offering me is 4.09% for a two year fix or 4.33% for a five-year fix.

Online I can see there are often new customers lower than this with zero product fee 3.94% I think.

I don’t think I can change provider as I currently have no income in the UK

I have 3  questions


1/ how long after the Bank of England rate change do Halifax adjust their offers to existing and new customers

2/ With the anticipated rate changes this year, would you wait a little while longer before fixing , maybe middle of July would be better or even pay the SVR for a couple of months to see if it drops even further by the fall ? 

3/ F fixing this summer, personally for you , would you fix for two or five years?

la531983

1) they may not. Predicted future rises and decreases are already baked in and they won't just lop 0.25% off everything the day after. Barclays actually RAISED their 5 year fixed rate by 0.03% for existing customers with 60% LTV today.

Other questions, get a crystal ball.

Edi81

Rates are not directly linked to BOE base rate. They are based off the swap rates which are fairly volatile due to the orange man in the USA. 

With such a small mortgage it’s not going to make a huge difference in payments. 

Hoenir

dont_use_vistaprint said:

3/ F fixing this summer, personally for you , would you fix for two or five years?

What rates are you being offered?

dont_use_vistaprint

la531983 said:

1) they may not. Predicted future rises and decreases are already baked in and they won't just lop 0.25% off everything the day after. Barclays actually RAISED their 5 year fixed rate by 0.03% for existing customers with 60% LTV today.

Other questions, get a crystal ball.

hi thanks I was not asking for a crystal ball I was asking for peoples opinions of what they would do. There is a big difference between asking for people’sopinion on a specific   situation vs  asking  to predict the future, if I wanted the latter, I would post at Mystic Meg forums

dont_use_vistaprint

Edi81 said:

Rates are not directly linked to BOE base rate. They are based off the swap rates which are fairly volatile due to the orange man in the USA. 

With such a small mortgage it’s not going to make a huge difference in payments. 

hi you are correct it does not make a huge amount of difference but locking in for five years at £10 a month more does matter to me that’s money I could use on other things

dont_use_vistaprint

Hoenir said:

dont_use_vistaprint said:

3/ F fixing this summer, personally for you , would you fix for two or five years?

What rates are you being offered?

Hi I think I put this in the original post, the two that I was considering at least 4.09% for a five year fix, 4.33% for a two year fix,

Also  4.76%  for a 10 year fix, 4.80% for a two year tracker

all of the above have no product fees to consider and come with the 10% no penalty overpayment allowance per calendar year. although as I found before you cannot utilise that in year one if you have already utilised it on the deal that is ending

lfc321

How long is left on your mortgage? 

poseidon1

dont_use_vistaprint said:

Hi, I have a small mortgage with Halifax that ends at the end of July. Properties worth around 345,000 mortgage is 36,000 currently at 4.68%

They have a tool in the app to switch but the best it’s offering me is 4.09% for a two year fix or 4.33% for a five-year fix.

Online I can see there are often new customers lower than this with zero product fee 3.94% I think.

I don’t think I can change provider as I currently have no income in the UK

I have 3  questions


1/ how long after the Bank of England rate change do Halifax adjust their offers to existing and new customers

2/ With the anticipated rate changes this year, would you wait a little while longer before fixing , maybe middle of July would be better or even pay the SVR for a couple of months to see if it drops even further by the fall ? 

3/ F fixing this summer, personally for you , would you fix for two or five years?

With no income ( so going elsewhere not an option) , I would go for the no fee 2 year fixed since the SVR at 7.74% seems particularly unappealing.

£36k in mortgage terms is pretty small unless it's a repayment mortgage with only very few years left to run.

I agree it's irritating new customers can get a better deal, but if you are truly zero income ( for mortgage purposes), you are pretty much wedded to Halifax on the best short term rates obtainable. 

dont_use_vistaprint

lfc321 said:

How long is left on your mortgage? 

11 years left

kingstreet

Are you aware of this? Prompted by your disclosure of lack of UK income. If irrelevant, please ignore.

This appears in all current Halifax product transfer offers.

"We're changing our Mortgage Conditions

Our mortgage agreement with you includes the Halifax Mortgage Conditions 2019. Those conditions now include the following update to Chapter 14 and new Chapter 17.

Chapter 17 - Living abroad

We agreed to your mortgage on the basis that you will use the property as your only or main home. The exception to this is if your mortgage is a buy to let mortgage where you agreed that you would not live in the property but you would live in the United Kingdom. These conditions set out our rights if you no longer live in the United Kingdom.

You must promptly give us your new address if you move, or intend to move, to live outside the United Kingdom.

What we may do if you move to live outside the United Kingdom

If you move to live outside the United Kingdom or we reasonably believe that you have done so the following applies.

Where we believe that your move outside the United Kingdom might cause us to:

• break any laws or regulations in the United Kingdom or elsewhere; or

• be subject to action from any government, regulator or other authority in the United Kingdom or elsewhere,

We may not be able to provide you with your mortgage or some mortgage services (such as product transfers or additional borrowing). We may also ask you to repay everything you owe under your mortgage.

If we ask you to repay your mortgage, we'll give you 6 months' notice unless the regulator in the country you're living in insists we ask you to repay your mortgage sooner. If so, we will give you less notice. At the end of this notice period you must pay immediately if you haven't already done so. This is as well as when you need to pay immediately in Chapter 12.

If you don't repay everything you owe, we might get a court order to gain possession of your property to allow us to sell it. We can also take any other action in Chapter 13."