What's my best option??

JCR1987

Hi guys, I'm no expert when it comes to the whole mortgage thing so just wanted to ask a quick question with regards the whole 'credit crunch', blah, blah, blah, situation.

We took out our first mortgage in May last year with Advantage Morgan Stanley - 95% on a fixed rate of 6.6% for 2 years (very high I know but it's a near prime mortgage) which then rises to 8.7% after the 2 years. The mortgage was one of very few available options to us, which was found via our broker at Moneyquest.

Obviously I want to remortgage after the end of the second year and, hopefully, we'll be in a position to obtain a better deal with another lender after this second year in May 2009. I have a CCJ which is due to drop off in June this year so that will hopefully be the last bad debt thing from my past which impairs our credit rating.

Now, I was contacted by Advantage last month to see if I wanted to consider getting a no obligation quote via one of their recommended brokers to see if they could obtain me a better deal elseswhere and if so, Advantage would waive the early redempton fees for our mortgage. Strange I though at the time but, I asked on MSE mortgage forum about this and was advised that Morgan Stanley were probably trying to offload a bunch of their less than desirable customers to reduce some of their debts. So, we obtained a quote but the only other lender that came up via the broker was with Accord, who are the sub-prime lender division of Yorkshire BS, and the product was at a rate which would have ended up costing us more per month so we decided to stick where we are.

Since then however I've been considering whether it is worth me contacting Advantage to see if they are prepared to waive the early redemption fee if I can find a lender who are prepared to offer us a better deal. What do you reckon?

I realise we were offered little or nothing by the mortgage broker last month, but I am thinking more along the lines of looking in a couple of months after my CCJ has cleared.

Any advice welcomed.

Thanks,
JR

herbiesjp

WIth the CCJ about to drop off your mortgage file, I'll be surprised if you do not fit the criteria of some high street lenders

This would look all the more attractice seeing as Advantage are apparently going to waive the ERCs for you - do you have that in writing?

JCR1987

No, nothing in writing. It may just have been a one-off offer as long as we went via their recommended broker, but I figure it can't hurt to ask if they're that keen to offload sub-prime customers. I'm just trying to guage whether it is worth me contacting Advantage and asking if they would waive the ERC's if I can find an alternative lender