anyone remorgaged with intelligent finance ?

carlos700

We have a fixed rate morgage which is ending in 12 months time ,the morgage is with intelligent finance after the fixed rate ends it will go to a variable rate .I have just entered into a DMP with cccs and i am already worrying about what is going to happen in 12 months time ,at todays variable rate we would prob be paying quite alot more per month which is a worry.Does anyone know if Intelligent Morgages do credit checks when swapping deals ? Are they likely to refuse us a fixed rate because of our credit score ? (we have never missed any payments with morgage )

texas_devil

customer service sucks

sarkin

If you stay with IF they will not credit check you but the rates will not be competative. If you are on DMP your credit history if fried for 6 years.

WillowCat

I'm with IF and as far as I'm aware they're not allowing existing customers to move to new deals unless they are also moving house.

They don't seem to want to keep their existing customers if my recent experience is anything to go by.

HelpWhereIcan

They tend to change their policy on quite a regular basis at the moment.

When my sister's deal came to an end last year she was able to secure a very good retention deal with them (BBR + 0.39 IIRC).

However, I had a customer not long after who was not offered anything and IF re-introduced their retention products a couple of weeks later.

The quick answer is that you will have to wait and see because no-one can say for sure whether IF will be offering retention products at in 12 months. Even if they don't, it will be worth your while keeping an eye on their policy in case they re-introduce them.

They do not credit check on a product transfer, but you will have to make sure that you keep up your payments with them; not only for the product transfer, but also to stand any chance of getting a reasonable deal elsewhere.

There should be options available for you if all that is recorded are missed payments or even defaults on unsecured credit. The important thing to avoid is mortgage arrears and ccjs.

If you have a reasonable amount of equity there will be lenders available offereing a better deal than IF's 7% SVR, but possibly not much better.

There is a school of thought that the credit crunch will be loosening its grip in 12 months and the situation may improve in terms of rates and deals available.

Having said that, IF's SVR of 7% is not the worst and there may be ways to make it more affordable while you ride things out such as extending your mortgage term or switching part or all of the mortgage to interest only for a short period.

In the short term, you should look to put whatever extra money you have now, no matter how small, aside in the offset account (if there is one) or as an overpayment, or even in another account to help to fund an underpayment 'war chest'.

If your payment is going to shoot up that much, you can use the 'extra' money you have now to allow you to overpay by enough to have the facility to make an underpayment for a period of time without risking going into arrears.

eg If your payment is £600 now and will be £750 on SVR. Putting £75 per month aside should build up £900 over the next 12 months.

Overpaid on the mortgage, this should allow you to underpay by that same £75 for a further 12 months - possibly delaying a switch to interest only or extention of your term for long enough for your other options to improve.

carlos700

Thanks very much for the great advice that has been very helpful .