completely stuck - mortgage advice?

Naughty_Sausage

I did post this before but put it tonto someone elses thread. Very rude of me.
Our mortagage deal runs out end May (currently on a tracker with Nationwide). We have 2 small children (age 3 and 1) and can manage our mortgage at the moment but it would not take much of a rise for us to struggle.

I work part time and only earn £13,990 per year and my husband earns about £24,000 per year. No credit cards, no store cards. Just normal household bills plus loans for our cars (2 of - £184 per month and £75 per month) and childcare. House worth about £130,000. Ourstanding mortgage is about £97,500.

We think that the time may have come for us to fix (possibly for 5 years). We kind of like the idea of staying with the Nationwide cos then we can take a mortgage break if something unexpected happens (car problems, boiler stops working, roof blows away etc)

What would all of you 'fountains of knowledge' suggest? We have no idea and so any thought would be appreciated.

Thank you

Naughty Sausage x

mrsm

Hi NAughty Sausage welcome to the boards :wave:

I am in no way at all an expert, infact reading some of the info on here what we've done may be deemed as crazy. But it suits us and I think that's what you have to think about most.

We owe about £67K on a house valued at £210K. At the moment I do not work (3 children aged 4, 3 and 1.5yrs) and when I do it will only be a small part time job. For this reason we decided on a long term fix. We're fixing with FD for 10 yrs at 5.15 (deal has long since been pulled). We're well aware that 10 yrs is a long time and rates could change but the peace of mind knowing we can happily afford the payment out weighs any head banging if the rates drop. The mortgage is flexible so we plan to overpay as much as possible, and all being well we should be able to pay off in those 10 yrs rather than the 18 yr term we took out.
For us we hope that the ability to make unlimited overpayments and pay off early should cheer us up if interest rates drop a lot below the 5.15 we're fixed at.
We did seriously consider the 5 yr fix but my Husband has had the joy of owning a mortgage when interest rates went sky sky high and so he said he'd rather long term fix than finish in 5 yrs and come out of the fix to seriously silly rates iyswim.

homer_j_3

If you like the nationwide and you know that you want to fix and understand that you will be tied in for this period of time then why not go with them. Nationwide are usually very competitive and you seem to know what you want.

If you sought advice, the adviser would have to fully consider exit costs etc to move somewhere else so depending on the size of mortgage, it may be difficult to achieve.

Dan_Collins_2

I would look at Nationwide, but the time you have added fees etc you may not save a lot. Also they are a strong balance sheet lender and you should not feel any effects or little effects from this crunch! HSBC as a group are seeing big loses in the US and pos asia so they will want to make up money at some point!!

Naughty_Sausage

Hi - Thats for all of your help. Nationwide are offering a 5 year fixed with no reservation fees with 6.3% for comparison. Existing customers only.

We do not plan to move house.

Would this be a good deal?

homer_j_3

depends what the mortgage balance was?

They will offer ones with reservation fees for lower rate of interest but its whether you can recoup the fee or not.

Naughty_Sausage

About £98000. House value about £130000.

homer_j_3

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/mortgage/default.htm

do the switcher quote on there and see what that says

bernlyn

i am in similar situation and just dont know what to do