Re-Mortgaging with same Lender with two years remaining to travel

Leon12

Hello,

I am thinking of taking some time out to go traveling, probably for around 12 months. The mortgage I currently have would have just under two years remaining on it at the point I leave to go and as I plan to travel for 12 months, that would leave around a year remaining on it when I return and look for a new job as I would have left my current one to travel. Normally in my industry it takes on average about 3 months to find a new job but there is also a good chance that it could take longer and so I would obviously like to avoid a situation where my mortgage runs out and it is time to agree a new fixed deal when I am still out of work. I know from having done it before that my lender does not conduct employment or affordability checks for a remortgage but I would still like to avoid being out of work when the time comes to do the remortgage. So to avoid that, what I would like to do is to remortgage with my current lender at around the time it has two years remaining on it to a new 5 year fixed mortgage and so this way when I return from travel it will still have around 4 years remaining on it which will be plenty of time for me to find a new job. The money fortunately is not an issue and I would have enough to travel with and pay the mortgage payments whilst I am away and until I find a new job.

My question is when I call the bank at the point my current mortgage has two years remaining on it and tell them that I want to remortgage to another of their products, could they ask me questions at that point about why I want to remortgage when it will cost me the early repayment fee and advise me that I would be better off waiting until the final 3 months of my deal and remortgage then for no cost. All of that is true of course but as per the above, I want to remortgage with two years remaining because of the travel reason - although I obviously wouldn't tell them that. Also for personal reasons, waiting until the current mortgage runs out isn't an option for me and I would need to go next year if I am going to do it. Or in other words what I am asking is how likely is it that they will ask questions and / or be suspicious? Is it the case that I am in my rights to do it regardless of what they say / ask as long as I pay the early repayment fee? Or in other words it is always my right and choice to do it as long as I pay that fee? I know what the fee is and I can afford it so that is not an issue.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Leon

Emmia

Leon12 said:

Hello,

I am thinking of taking some time out to go traveling, probably for around 12 months. The mortgage I currently have would have just under two years remaining on it at the point I leave to go and as I plan to travel for 12 months, that would leave around a year remaining on it when I return and look for a new job as I would have left my current one to travel. Normally in my industry it takes on average about 3 months to find a new job but there is also a good chance that it could take longer and so I would obviously like to avoid a situation where my mortgage runs out and it is time to agree a new fixed deal when I am still out of work. I know from having done it before that my lender does not conduct employment or affordability checks for a remortgage but I would still like to avoid being out of work when the time comes to do the remortgage. So to avoid that, what I would like to do is to remortgage with my current lender at around the time it has two years remaining on it to a new 5 year fixed mortgage and so this way when I return from travel it will still have around 4 years remaining on it which will be plenty of time for me to find a new job. The money fortunately is not an issue and I would have enough to travel with and pay the mortgage payments whilst I am away and until I find a new job.

My question is when I call the bank at the point my current mortgage has two years remaining on it and tell them that I want to remortgage to another of their products, could they ask me questions at that point about why I want to remortgage when it will cost me the early repayment fee and advise me that I would be better off waiting until the final 3 months of my deal and remortgage then for no cost. All of that is true of course but as per the above, I want to remortgage with two years remaining because of the travel reason - although I obviously wouldn't tell them that. Also for personal reasons, waiting until the current mortgage runs out isn't an option for me and I would need to go next year if I am going to do it. Or in other words what I am asking is how likely is it that they will ask questions and / or be suspicious? Is it the case that I am in my rights to do it regardless of what they say / ask as long as I pay the early repayment fee? Or in other words it is always my right and choice to do it as long as I pay that fee? I know what the fee is and I can afford it so that is not an issue.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Leon

If you're sticking with the same lender, then it's not a remortgage it would be a new product - this wouldn't attract affordability and other checks, and as it's normally done online (you don't need to call anyone) you could do it anywhere in the world with a suitable internet connection - whether you go for a 2 of 5 year fix probably depends on where you think mortgage rates will go in that period. 

I think the difficulty here is the amount of time you're planning to be away,. Does your current mortgage have any requirements that you're resident/ living there, or that you won't the away for more than a certain number of days in a given period. Are you planning to leave the property empty, or would you be seeking a "consent to let" from your mortgage provider, and would let it out whilst you are away (which has it's own challenges)

You'd also need to ensure you have suitable house insurance in place 

Hoenir

Remaining with your existing lender is not a remortgage. Select a new product online and there's no manual intervention. Speak to them and a totally different process comes into play. 

Leon12

Thanks both for the replies.

What I was trying to say in my initial post is if I do not do a product transfer / get a new mortgage before I leave to travel, that would leave me relatively little time when I return to find a job before the current mortgage term runs out. If that were to happen and I still hadn't been able to find a new job on my return from travel at the point the mortgage term runs out, then when I come to do a product transfer to another of my current lenders mortgage products, if they ask me at any point what my employment status is, then I would have to lie regardless of if that question is asked to me during an online application or on a call. I realise that when doing an online application it probably doesn't actually ask that question (as from what has been said above, product transfers do not involve affordability checks etc) but I still wouldn't feel great about doing it. So this is why I would like to get it done before I leave (when my current mortgage will have two years left on it) and so my initial question was when I call the bank at the point my current mortgage has two years remaining on it and tell them that I want to remortgage to another of their products, could they ask me questions at that point about why I want to remortgage when it will cost me the early repayment fee and advise me that I would be better off waiting until the final 3 months of my deal and remortgage then for no cost? At the point of actually doing the product transfer I still wouldn't have left my job and so if they do ask that, I will be able to say I am in full time employment. What I am worried about is if they start asking questions about why I want to do it so early etc.

To answer some of the other questions - I wouldn't rent out my flat and my parents would check in on it once a month. My mortgage terms do not seem to have anything in them stipulating that I must be in the property for a certain amount of days per year etc and the buildings insurance isnt an issue as that is handled by the maintenance company and is included in the service charge costs I have to pay them.

Thanks.

MWT

Leon12 said:

...and so my initial question was when I call the bank at the point my current mortgage has two years remaining on it and tell them that I want to remortgage to another of their products, could they ask me questions at that point about why I want to remortgage when it will cost me the early repayment fee and advise me that I would be better off waiting until the final 3 months of my deal and remortgage then for no cost? 

Their duty of care would pretty much oblige then to ask you why you are doing it as it doesn't make a lot of sense.

You do seem to be overly concerned about the eventual new product selection process, personally I wouldn't give that aspect a second thought. 

Emmia

If you can't afford your mortgage when you return from travelling it doesn't matter whether there are 3 months remaining on the deal or 3 years - the end result is the same. 

You seem overly concerned about what questions will be asked, so to be clear... if you remortgage with a new lender, you will go through the full mortgage application process including needing to prove your income etc. 

If you stay with your current lender, it is just a new product, no payslips, affordability checks etc. you can do it online without speaking to anyone. You only need to pick the deal being offered that works best for you.

When we've needed a new fixed rate deal, I've gone online on a price comparison site to get an idea what rates are being offered for our circumstances, and have then looked to see if the current lender is competitive with that - so far they have been, so we've just gone for a new fixed rate deal... Taking the new fix out is probably 30mins on the computer in total - very easy and quick.

Leon12

Thanks again for the replies.

Yes, I am concerned about what, if any questions may be asked because as MWT has said, what I would be doing on the face of it logically doesn't make much sense but that is because going traveling isn't an everyday thing / something that many people with mortgages will do. Hence why I wanted to get it done with before leaving. One of the replies above said about not being able to afford the mortgage when Im return regardless of how long it has left on it - as per one of my points in my initial post, I have worked that out and I do have enough money to cover it for up to a year after I get back and it normally takes on average about 3 months in my industry to find a new job so whilst it is a slight risk, I am confident that will be ok.

From the above replies, the consensus seems to be doing the product transfer (provided I stay with the same lender) online but are you saying I should still do that even if I get to the point of the mortgage having three months left on it and still not having a job at that stage? Like I said, affordability at that point wont be an issue, even if I commit to a new three year deal - my point is even though there are no affordability checks or questions, the lender would still be assuming I am in full time employment - or am I over thinking that and that isn't an issue because again there are no affordability checks and no questions are asked?

Thanks

Emmia

Leon12 said:

Thanks again for the replies.

Yes, I am concerned about what, if any questions may be asked because as MWT has said, what I would be doing on the face of it logically doesn't make much sense but that is because going traveling isn't an everyday thing / something that many people with mortgages will do. Hence why I wanted to get it done with before leaving. One of the replies above said about not being able to afford the mortgage when Im return regardless of how long it has left on it - as per one of my points in my initial post, I have worked that out and I do have enough money to cover it for up to a year after I get back and it normally takes on average about 3 months in my industry to find a new job so whilst it is a slight risk, I am confident that will be ok.

From the above replies, the consensus seems to be doing the product transfer (provided I stay with the same lender) online but are you saying I should still do that even if I get to the point of the mortgage having three months left on it and still not having a job at that stage? Like I said, affordability at that point wont be an issue, even if I commit to a new three year deal - my point is even though there are no affordability checks or questions, the lender would still be assuming I am in full time employment - or am I over thinking that and that isn't an issue because again there are no affordability checks and no questions are asked?

Thanks

Whether you commit to a new 3-year deal when you return (or beforehand) or move onto the default SVR affordability could be an issue if you don't manage to achieve suitability remunerated employment - this is the risk you're taking in quitting your job to go travelling.

You're overthinking the bank's position - yes they want you to be able to afford the repayments on your mortgage, but they choose not to force people to go through a full application with checks if all they're doing is taking out a new fixed rate period.

If a lender made checks on a new fixed deal they would find some borrowers fail the "criteria" - but what then? Does the bank preemptively evict people? Banks react when the default has happened - not in advance, they essentially "trust" people to make the payments they agreed to contractually when they took out the mortgage, and each time they take out a new fixed deal.

MWT

Leon12 said:

... my point is even though there are no affordability checks or questions, the lender would still be assuming I am in full time employment - or am I over thinking that and that isn't an issue because again there are no affordability checks and no questions are asked?

Yes you are over-thinking it, once you have a mortgage there are no obligations to update your employment status or indeed any other aspects of your financial situation as long as you keep paying on time.

Yorkie1

Some lenders do not allow you to move from one fixed rate product to another with them before the end date of the original fixed rate product, even if you were willing to pay the early repayment charge.

Have you checked what your current lender's position would be?

As others have said, at the end of a fixed rate product, if you just take out a new product with the existing lender then there are no further checks. I've done it three times online and just clicked a few buttons. Took 5 minutes.

Leon12

Thanks everyone for your replies and these are reassuring. 

I have worked out all of the affordability issues and those are ok. My plan at the moment is to leave to go traveling at the start of September 2026 for one year and so return at the end of August 2027. At that point my mortgage will still have 8 months of its fixed term left on it and that should be enough for me to find a new job again but if it comes towards its end and I still haven't found a new job, then I will remortgage with the same lender online at that point as no affordability, employment or payslip checks are made.

Thanks again for the help.