Do the figures add up?

swebber

Hiya,

I've tried my best to get my head around this maze of mortgages and even seen a broker, but I still feel unsure of what I am doing.
Can someone advice me if the figures for a re-mortgage do add up ok, details as follows:-

2yr deal ends mid october - with West Brom paying £644 including building Insurance at £33 amonth (yes I know we're being ripped off, hence terror of getting it wrong again)

Current Mortgage for £95 over 25yrs, but we want to take a bit of money, as the house is falling apart round our ears.

New mortgage would be for £99, but reduced term to only 18yrs (Yippee!)

House is valued at £148,000 or slightly higher with the work we want to do.


Broker has suggested Halifax's 2yr fix at 4.29%, with fee of £599.


I know that we will save money not going onto the SVR, but I can't help having a bad feeling about the Halifax deal, it's weird, but everytime I tell myself we are taking it out, I start panicking, thinking there is something better, what do all those in the know think?

MortgageGenie

Hi, Although it's a higher rate, from a pure monetary point of view, Nationwide's 2 year fixed is likely to work out slightly better.

Why? It's £115 cheaper to set-up & the mortgage discharge fee is £90 rather than £200 with the Halifax. Also, the Nationwide the deal is for a full 2 years rather than 23.5 months which mean the fees are amortised over a slightly longer period.

Plus Nationwide is more likely to offer you a good deal to remain with them at the end of the 2 years as an existing customer than the Halifax who currently penalises it's existing customers to fund new business.

Please note, I don't know your personal circumstances so there are probably other reasons why your broker is recommending the Halifax deal.

PS. What has the West Brom offered you to remain with them? I don't know off hand what West Brom's discharge fees are, make sure you ask.

swebber

When I asked the broker about other deals, he did say there is this one two and give us the Nationwide details. He's a nice bloke, but I haven't got much confidence in his abilities, as he'd not really explaining anything and although he does answer questions when asked, he doesn't elaborate much and I'm not sure I'm asking all the questions I need answers too.

I'm quessing that the Halifax deal or Nationwide one are the best 2yr fixes about then.

Not staying with West Brom as paying serverly over the odds on their Buildings insurance. I'd advice people to be careful about using mortgage products with tied insurance, we have paid alot more for our mortgage over the long run, even though it looked like the best deal around.

Panicking now as Marting has said not to delay and fix straight away, but can't get an appointment to see someone till next Tuesday. Is that waiting to long?

KTF

You can do all this over the phone with a broker as well. I have used Now Mortgages (http://www.now-mortgages.com/) in the past with no problems. Of you can try others such as L&C, etc.

Give them a call today and see what they say.

MortgageGenie

you could also contact any of the many brokers posting on this site payless, dunstonh, herbiesjp, Fairdo, myself etc... hope I haven't missed anybody. (hope this isn't over-stepping the mark abcon?)

or you could go back to your broker as he/she mentioned the deal to you anyway and ask for the Nationwide one if you prefer it.

payless

MortgageGenie wrote:

you could also contact any of the many brokers posting on this site payless, dunstonh, herbiesjp, Fairdo, myself etc... hope I haven't missed anybody. (hope this isn't over-stepping the mark abcon?)

or you could go back to your broker as he/she mentioned the deal to you anyway and ask for the Nationwide one if you prefer it.

As one of Martin's articles also mentions "consider brokers who freely answer questions on this site...." I see no harm in the odd "general" plug

Anyone taking advice or processing a case via a broker should always ensure they are autrhorised - ask for a FSA number ( if not shown on website) and check it out on http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/

Also ensure you receive a copy of their terms - its usual for these to be contained in a "Initial Disclosure Document " / IDD - and that you are happy with these.

(ps ... I'm on holiday soon, so the others are better bets than me anyway! )

crazyhazy

i'll reiterate what i just posted in another thread, I'd stay away from the likes of halifax cos when your deal is up they will have no decent rates to offer you as an existing customer. Have you looked at rates offered by direct line, i only ask cos your broker won't mention them cos they won't get a fee for it! Also, first active and natwest offer all their deals to all their customers, so technically when your next deal is up it should be easy to switch on to something else without paying release fees and changing lenders again.

Thefunkygibbons

Have you gone through to the business retention people at West Brom

I managed to get £350 pa off insurance by telling them the quote I got from https://www.morethan.com

Pretty good for 30 minutes work