Stick with your current lender?
So, your mortgage product is coming to the end of it’s term. You may have fixed for an amount of time, maybe two, three or five years. And now your rate is due to change to the lenders variable rate, which in the main, is higher than the rate you are currently on, and your monthly payments are about to increase. But hold on, your current lender has seen the light and decided to offer you some ‘fantastic’ products to keep you. Even though you are four months out of your product change, they’ve given you just fourteen days to decide whether to choose a new product to stay with them. What do you do?
One recent example a customer showed us, had some very attractive rates. However, when we looked, the same lender was offering better rates through the intermediary sector, with the same fees, etc. I always say do your homework, and lucky this customer did as it saved them 0.1% on the rate over a three year period.
Even though some lenders put a deadline on any new offerings, remember most are contacting you three or four months before your product changes, so there is plenty of time to review your options and choose the best one for you.
This is the biggest debt you will ever take on, take your time and ensure you will not regret it further down the line. Always seek advice!
With this in mind, we’ve seen a lot of rate changes and reductions over the last few days. TSB, Santander, Halifax, Harpenden Building Society, Accord, Platform, Saffron, Kensington, Virgin Money and Precise Mortgages have all made changes, to name but a few. Key highlights include 5 year fixed rates from 1.75% up to 65% LTV, Buy to Let fixed rates from 2.99%, ExPats in Australia can now be First Time Buyers in the UK , more options for lending in to retirement and many many more positive enhancements. Lenders want to lend!