Throwing myself at your enlightened mercy

tinseltel

Good evening all.

A newbie recruit money saver reporting for duty and as ever has a difficult question to be asked to the enlightened amongst us. I am currently paying my mortgage off to the tune of £476 per month (75k - with 12 years left on it) and am looking to remortgage away from the C&G who have me at 5.50%. I also have about 30k available immediately in mature ISA's and savings accounts that could be used to reduce the mortgage.

My question(s) are what mortgage provider should I go to and should I use my savings to reduce the term of the mortgage or keep them seperate. I can also afford to pay and additional £180 on top of my mortgage payments if necessary.

Regards and thanks.

meanmachine_2

Well personally I'd lapse onto the SVR for a month, throw 27K at your mortgage (keeping back 3K in your ISA for the year), then remortgage on a flexible fixed.

Most fixes are flexible - A&L for example have quite a low rate.

But you're in a good position and you've saved hard - so applause applause!

Ian_W

I'd keep a bit more back than that - £5-10k more, as rainy day money for those things that you can't plan for or insure against. In fact I'd be tempted to keep all in ISA's back as the interest is tax free and probably likely to earn more than your new remortgage interest rate costs you. It's not as if you're struggling to pay for your present level of borrowing.

I'd read Martin's articles about remortgaging and fixed v variable. Once you've done that you can decide with more info what type of mortgage you want to go for. There really are some good fixed rates about at the moment, starting from around the 4.2% mark for 2 yrs. There are some linked sites where you can put your details in and get quotes or some brokers you can contact if you'd prefare them to do it for you. Most re-mort's have fees but quite a few will give you free legals & valuation, factor those costs in to decide what's best for you.

If, as meanmachine says, you get one that's flexible you can overpay the £180 [maybe more on your new rate] and watch the balance tumble down. Not a bad problem to have, better than lots who post, but certainly time to get rid of C&G's 5.5!

tinseltel

Thank you meanmachine and Ian W

Having now re-read Martins articles as recommended it does appear that a flexible fixed mortgage is the way ahead. I have to admit that retaining some of the savings cash appeals to me as you can always be caught out in the future and I guess that by overpaying it would negate that outlay of cash eventually anyway.

Once again very many thanks to you both

Tinseltel