Can someone advise me please?

pruney

Hello
We bought our house in Nov 06 for £119k with a mortgage of £103k (deposit was a loan from my father).
Our fixed rate deal (5.8%) ends in Nov 09 and by then, I will have 1 default against my name (due to come off in Jan 2010), the other 7 we had from debt problems in the past (our DMP finished just before we bought our house)will have been wiped off.
My question is with the credit crunch, would I be better off waiting to remortgage until January when I won't have any defaults against my name or just try for when my deal ends?
We've had no debt problems for a few years now as we sorted ourselves out and we haven't taken out any more credit (not even an overdraft!) so we've been trying to improve our credit ratings.
Also, the other question I had was that we have a basic bank account still as we became accustomed to it when we had our DMP, we keep getting offered a normal account but I'm reluctant to have one; will it make a difference to us getting a mortgage i.e. will lenders think we're worse with money because we have a basic account.
I know it's a long way off till we have to remortgage and things will be different again by then but it's niggling me and I feel a little ignorant about it all as this is our first house and first time remortgaging.
Thanks in advance x

beecher

Rather than re-mortgaging, you might be better off seeing what your present lender will offer you (as long as you aren't with Northern Rock that is). If what they offer is competititve, it would save waiting til January, and you shouldn't have to have any credit checks either. You could give them a call and ask when you can organise a new deal.

Cazza

Hi Pruney! Ok, lending criteria is changing very often at the moment, so what's right now, might be complete nonsense by Autumn next year!

My instinct would be that you'll probably be best waiting until the January to remortgage. I would suggest you start to talk to brokers next summer, August/September time and see what's available then. They will be able to help you decide what rate you'll get in Nov and the rate you'll get in Jan and the different savings you will make. You may find that some lenders will ignore the defaults anyway if they're that historic and everything else is within criteria, but this very much depends on how cautions lenders are being next year.

As far as the bank account is concerned, as long as you can set up direct debits I'd be surprised if it makes any difference at all.