Topic: Mortgage advice

[DolphinFace]

I'm coming to the end of my 5 year fixed rate mortgage repayment plan, after which, I will begin paying a standard rate of interest which will inevitably be more than I am praying now.

Do I now have to pay an independent mortgage broker to organise a new fixed term plan. At a glance most set up costs appear around the £1000 mark and the broker another few hundred.

What do other mortgage paying verbwhores do in these times?

[gib]

Just ask for a meeting at the building society?

[DolphinFace]

Ok. Why building society

[Captain Z]

Did you know 'mortgage' literally translates as 'dead gauge', i.e. a gauge of how dead you will be by the time you've finished paying.

[Hat FM]

i haven't got a new deal on mine yet as it doesnt run out until October but i got the impression that you have three options:

Stay on the variable rate (probably be 4.4% or something - not great)
Do not pay for the 'product' and get a fixed rate
Pay for the 'product' and get a better fixed rate - the price of the 'product' is not paid up front but is paid for as part of the mortgage

If you go and see your bank they will only tell you their rates. However, if you go through a broker they will be able to find you the best deal of all of the banks and building societies. My broker doesn't charge a fee as they take a percentage from the bank. I imagine you can find one that does the same in your area.

Hope that makes sense?

[gib]

Ok. Why building society

Well in the olden days that's who you got a mortgage with. For example the Nationwide. Who is your mortgage with?

[Consignia]

Can't you use a fee free mortgage broker like London and Country? You'll probably end up paying more than at a normal broker though, as they are commission based, so it might be worth ponying up the cash up front. Don't let it go to the standard rate, though, that's just mental.

I use London and Country, but only because they were so much less hassle when dealing the whole buying process.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I'm coming to the end of my 5 year fixed rate mortgage repayment plan, after which, I will begin paying a standard rate of interest which will inevitably be more than I am praying now.

Do I now have to pay an independent mortgage broker to organise a new fixed term plan. At a glance most set up costs appear around the £1000 mark and the broker another few hundred.

What do other mortgage paying verbwhores do in these times?

Can I ask:

How much time is left until it expires?
Is yours a leasehold or freehold property?
Do you have any other secured lending?
Do you have any restrictions registered against your Land Registry title?


All these will determine what expense you will end up incurring and help you judge the benefit of remortgaging to another fixed rate.

Brokers in my experience are feckless and fucking useless. You don't want to end up paying them £1000 on top of the product fee for their help 'advice' unless there is no other option but to have one appointed (not necessary with some Barclays mortgages for example).

It is not a difficult process, it is merely an unfamiliar one.

With remortgaging in a scenario of this sort:

- Find out any issues concerning your title well In advance
- Mortgage Offers are valid for 3-6 months so you want to be allowing the lender time to arrange the valuation and mortgage offer well before your fixed rate period expires, allowing the appointed conveyancer due time to conduct the work well in advance until time whereby the rate changes and they can simply get an up to date redemption statement and complete the remortgage without further issues.
- Don't assume lender, valuer, broker or conveyancer are necessarily doing anything. Maintain proactive contact

[Hat FM]

Can I ask:

Brokers in my experience are feckless and fucking useless. You don't want to end up paying them £1000 on top of the product fee for their help 'advice' unless there is no other option but to have one appointed (not necessary with some Barclays mortgages for example).

Mine, who was not attached to the estate agent i was buying from, was great and didnt charge at all. the one the estate agent told me i should use wanted to charge me £200 and found an interest rate that wasnt nearly as good. no thanks mate!

[DolphinFace]

Can I ask:

How much time is left until it expires?
Is yours a leasehold or freehold property?
Do you have any other secured lending?
Do you have any restrictions registered against your Land Registry title?


Allison these will determine what expense you will end up incurring and help you judge the benefit of remortgaging to another fixed rate.

My fixed term ends mid November. Freehold. What's secured lending? I don't have any loans or credit cards or anything. Just pay my mortgage with nationwide at 3.19% interest, which my initial letter says will go up to 3.79% (I think). To get this we used a broker recommended by the estate agent and cost us £200. Don't particularly want to go back to him if I can avoid it but yeh, getting the best deal is not obvious to me because I've avoided financial responsibility all my life!

[Brian Freeze]

Ring Nationwide first before anyone else. They may want to keep your business and make it easy for you to switch to another product with them.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Ring Nationwide first before anyone else. They may want to keep your business and make it easy for you to switch to another product with them.

Mm, definitely worth a try. Even so, it may well involve replacing the legal charge though in which case new valuation, full conveyancing process and associated costs.

[Jasha]

With remortgaging in a scenario of this sort:

- Find out any issues concerning your title well In advance
- Mortgage Offers are valid for 3-6 months so you want to be allowing the lender time to arrange the valuation and mortgage offer well before your fixed rate period expires, allowing the appointed conveyancer due time to conduct the work well in advance until time whereby the rate changes and they can simply get an up to date redemption statement and complete the remortgage without further issues.
- Don't assume lender, valuer, broker or conveyancer are necessarily doing anything. Maintain proactive contact

TSB took 19 days from grant to completion and that included over Christmas, (it's all electronic valuations these days, at a push they'll have someone drive past), conveyancing paid if you use their firm and no product fee at 1.99%.

[shiftwork2]

🎵 David Gray’s White Ladder 🎵

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

My fixed term ends mid November. Freehold. What's secured lending? I don't have any loans or credit cards or anything. Just pay my mortgage with nationwide at 3.19% interest, which my initial letter says will go up to 3.79% (I think). To get this we used a broker recommended by the estate agent and cost us £200. Don't particularly want to go back to him if I can avoid it but yeh, getting the best deal is not obvious to me because I've avoided financial responsibility all my life!

Mid November? That should give you plenty enough time if you're starting soon. Some Mortgage Offers last only 3 months though so you really want to get to that stage by late September.

The change of rate isn't massive really, I've seen 1.2% mortgages jump up to 4.9% and even that is relatively abstract when it's a few weeks interest on a debt that will be subject to potentially far greater long term economic change outside your control.

Clearly I appreciate why you want to minimise costs where possible and a potential rise in mortgage payment sum shits people up, as it would me if I was born before 1990 and could afford a mortgage.

Another tip - if you aren't remortgaging to raise any money be prepared for your new loan and old loan to not be exactly like for like. If you definitely don't want to pay extra up front factor in a small buffer which takes into account interest accrual over the course of the month and any payments due which may not clear at the time of the remortgage completion. It also avoids delays. If the conveyancer doesn't need to contact you then they will simply complete the work and send you any sundry amount which you can then pay back off the new mortgage balance, or keep if you like.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

TSB took 19 days from grant to completion and that included over Christmas, (it's all electronic valuations these days, at a push they'll have someone drive past), conveyancing paid if you use their firm and no product fee at 1.99%.

Yes, it can be lightning quick, but just because that can happen doesn't mean it will.

Without seeing the guy's Land Registry title or knowing the chosen lender, it would be deeply irresponsible to suggest that represents a likely turnaround time.

[metaltax]

We're with Nationwide. We got in touch 3 months before the current deal was due to end, made an appointment and signed to a new 10-year fixed rate deal there and then, which was about 1.2% lower than we'd previously been paying. It was a piece of piss.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

We're with Nationwide. We got in touch 3 months before the current deal was due to end, made an appointment and signed to a new 10-year fixed rate deal there and then, which was about 1.2% lower than we'd previously been paying. It was a piece of piss.

Although if you were in an absolute dog aids deal to begin with (like my brother who got tied into a high interest fixed rate for 5 years, then the financial crash happened and interest rates were basement level) that would happen.

The best deals are generally short term 2 or 3 year ones but these are higher admin as you slalom between one or the other. There isn't really a save all the money possible while doing as little as possible option.

[mothman]

I don’t understand mortgage payments. How does what you pay each month get calculated from the figure you borrow and the term of the loan?

And, do they get it right? Because when we had a mortgage, I’d look at how much we paid off each year and at that rate there was no way it was going to get paid off by the end of the term.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

And, do they get it right? Because when we had a mortgage, I’d look at how much we paid off each year and at that rate there was no way it was going to get paid off by the end of the term.

A mortgage offer by law spells out exactly what the payment required will be to pay off the loan advance and how long that loan is for.

Without wanting to imply you're Mr thicko, which I don't want to, the only immediate reason I can think of that you may have thought it wasn't enough may be because it was during a fixed rate term which was advantageous for a few years before it snapped back to the SVR and the increased monthly payments which would ensure it was paid off in the stated time.

[mothman]

When it comes to mathematics, I am a total thicko. And this was about ten years in.

[DistressedArea]

Got to check the T&C very carefully. At least one building society puts in a clause that means the main building society man can come and sleep in your bed any time he wants.

[Jasha]

I don’t understand mortgage payments. How does what you pay each month get calculated from the figure you borrow and the term of the loan?

And, do they get it right? Because when we had a mortgage, I’d look at how much we paid off each year and at that rate there was no way it was going to get paid off by the end of the term.

Compound interest. If you've borrowed 100 grand and are paying say £500 a month (capital & interest) for the first 4 or 5 years out of that 500 only a tiny fraction goes to repaying what you've actually borrowed the lion's share on interest on the £100k (might be something like a £30/470 split) Over time you'll gradually whittle away at the capital till somewhere around year 12 you'll flip to paying more on the capital than the interest. In the last couple of months before it's discharged you'll see you're paying more as a capital payment in 1 month than you did the whole of the first 3 years combined.

[mothman]

OK, so the reason it didn’t seem to be going down at a rate sufficient to get us to the end of year 25 on zero was because a lot of what we were paying was going towards interest not capital, and in the latter half that amount would increase? I think I understand, while nit really knowing what compound interest is...

[Jasha]

Exactly, you should have been given a schedule of repayments in with all the other mortgage blumpf when you completed. Compound interest is simply interest charged on the interest, that's why you're not making much of a dent on the outstanding capital but it does snowball after a few years.

[Pijlstaart]

It's actually pronounced morgij. Reckon you don't have to pay it all off, because that's too much. Just give them a big-looking stack of money and say that's everything. They're not going to count it, who'd count it, and with the banks these days, and all the immigrants, no-one's going to want to count it.  You'll be on your way.

[weekender]

I've paid my mortgage adviser a good few hundred quid over the years, but I reckon they've saved me thousands.

Employing a mortgage adviser is what I would do.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Further hundreds can be saved by researching about the process yourself and avoiding having to do that in future (unless you plan on doing something more complex like a transfer of equity/shared equity with potential tax implications where financial advice may be sensible). It all depends how far along the want to save money/want to save hassle scale you land. Personally I really don't think a straightforward remortgage is worth the expense of paying someone to research mortgage deals and do basic forms.

Genuine offer of help: If the opening poster is happy emailing me a scan of the 'Official Register of Title' of his property I could tip him off about any likely issues.

[Hat FM]

We're with Nationwide. We got in touch 3 months before the current deal was due to end, made an appointment and signed to a new 10-year fixed rate deal there and then, which was about 1.2% lower than we'd previously been paying. It was a piece of piss.

10 years?! why did you get such a long time period? who knows what is round the corner.

[An Actual Propeller]

who knows what is round the corner.

Probably the best reason, right there.  Ten years is a long time, but interest rates are low as fuck.