# Mortgages



## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

Hi All

My question is to those people who have mortgages that are around 1.5%, those of you that had Bank Of England base rate trackers when the economy took a big **** and interest rates dropped.

Once the term of the tracker is up and you do nothing, do you guys go back up to the SVR of the lender?

Cheers


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## Avanti (Jan 17, 2006)

Yes that is correct, I was with LloydsTSB and the rate went back up to 2.5%, still not bad, fortunately for me, I had savings which were not earning 2.5%, so cleared off the mortgage


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## andyboyo (Dec 4, 2009)

mba said:


> Hi All
> 
> My question is to those people who have mortgages that are around 1.5%, those of you that had Bank Of England base rate trackers when the economy took a big **** and interest rates dropped.
> 
> ...


Correct - I took out a base rate tracker for BOE +0.79% in Oct 2008 (when rates were approx 5.5%). It's this rate for the term of the mortgage though.


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

Cheers fellas 

Andy could i ask which lender you are with? Is your LTV <75%?


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## andyboyo (Dec 4, 2009)

mba said:


> Cheers fellas
> 
> Andy could i ask which lender you are with? Is your LTV <75%?


You certainly can. I'm with First Direct and my LTV is well below 75% due to keeping my payment the same as before rates began to fall. I'm assuming yours would be a remortage.

Their current rates are with a £99 arrangement fee

75% LTV - BOE base + 2.49% (term)
65% LTV - BOE base + 2.09% (term)

There are also 2 year deals available.

_Probably one _of the best deals out there but DYOR. FD usually require you to be squeaky clean history wise. It's a 30-60 minute telephone interview process. I believe you also need to transfer your current account to them still. I did this with relatively no hassle. If you want to look into it further !

http://mortgages.firstdirect.com/


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## BoroDave74 (May 16, 2009)

I'm currently remortgaging to FD; I got in the day before the rates went up 0.2%, so 2.29%+BOE on LTV >65% but <75%.

Their lifetime trackers are as offset deals, so you have to take the current account, but don't have to transfer everything to them, just pay your monthly payment into the FD account.

Until the end of January the valuation fee is free with them too, and I think there is also a deal on where they pay any exit admin fee from your existing lender if remortgaging. Fees can either be paid by credit/debit card or added to the mortgage.

Booking fees are very reasonable as are arrangment fees depending on which type of deal you want to go for.

Interview process is no worries, they are just like they are on their advert - more a discussion than an interview. You will need to hand your bank details, any current mortgage details, all details about any outstanding credit details, employment details, as well as the usual info about the house.

Additional borrowing can also be applied for at the same time.

Paperwork took 3 days to come through after my interview.

If your credit history isn't to great you may want to speak to Northern Rock, rates aren't as great but amounts lent to lower scores are decent.
hth


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## Ibi_TME (Jul 20, 2008)

This maybe a little off topic but im currently looking to get a mortgage and buy my 1st property.:thumb:
Having been to 2 banks (Barclays,Halifax) 
I have been told I can borrow up to £80K and could possibly stretch to 20% deposit in total spending roughly £96k on my 1st property.

What I would like to ask is what type and where would you recommend getting a mortgage from please??

Barclays did offer a 2 year tracker mortgage at 2.89% over 25 years
and a fixed mortgage for 3 years at 3.89%

Halifax offered a fixed rate mortgage for 4.89% over 3 years

Im still currently looking around and will be visiting HSBC next weekend to see what they can offer.

My credit history is clean-
well i hope it is :thumb:

I don't have any credit cards or loans and had no credit issues at 

All the help is much appreciated 

Thanks :thumb:
Ibi


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

andyboyo said:


> You certainly can. I'm with First Direct and my LTV is well below 75% due to keeping my payment the same as before rates began to fall. I'm assuming yours would be a remortage.
> 
> Their current rates are with a £99 arrangement fee
> 
> ...


Yes mine will be a remortgage. If you get a tracker for the life of the mortgage, and the rates obviously will go up, will you have to pay an exit fee if you want to escape? Silly question i know but are these life time tracker mortgages more for people with fewer years on their mortgage?

Was actually looking at that same mortgage mate last night, looks a good one :thumb:



Ibi_TME said:


> This maybe a little off topic but im currently looking to get a mortgage and buy my 1st property.:thumb:
> Having been to 2 banks (Barclays,Halifax)
> I have been told I can borrow up to £80K and could possibly stretch to 20% deposit in total spending roughly £96k on my 1st property.
> 
> ...


For my first mortgage i went to HSBC that did an special offer discounted tracker rate of 3.96%. This however was 15 months ago when i took the gamble of going tracker over fixed because i couldnt see the interest rates raising at any point over the 2 year term.

Plus i also took into account if the interest rates did rise what would be my break even point.

I think a fixed at 3.89% over 3 years for a FTB is a good deal mate because over the term of the mortgage you can be certain the BoE base rate will go up! But i aint no financial advisor!!!!!


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## andyboyo (Dec 4, 2009)

mba said:


> Yes mine will be a remortgage. If you get a tracker for the life of the mortgage, and the rates obviously will go up, will you have to pay an exit fee if you want to escape? Silly question i know but are these life time tracker mortgages more for people with fewer years on their mortgage?
> 
> Was actually looking at that same mortgage mate last night, looks a good one :thumb:
> 
> ...


I took this out specifically for the flexibility that the product gives me. I was a One Account customer but when they started refusing to move their rates in line with BOE base (this was 1 of their original unwritten promises) I got out.

There are no exit fees with this deal and I can make unlimited overpayments if I really wanted to plus I'm a higher rate taxpayer so the offset suits me. I like to look at my overall financial position rather than my mortgage in isolation.

I'm fortunate in that if I really wanted to I could pay off my mortgage but I'm getting a better rate of return on my other investments which exceed my outstanding balance (work share scheme with dividends reinvested, S&S ISAs etc.)

I wouldn't recommend it for someone who has a tight budget and wants the security of knowing exactly what their payments would be. Also as you've previously stated you do need to take account of interest rate rises and whether you could still afford to pay (although these offsets are actually interest only). Think I mentioned previously that I took mine out when base rates were 5% just before the BOE slashed them. I've never changed my payment.


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

Sound advice Andy thanks for sharing mate :thumb:

I especially agree with your approach to seeing your mortgage as part of your overall financial postion. I think anyone with a lump sum of cash and especially the likes of you in the higher rate tax bracket would need a real term interest rate of 6+% on your savings to get the same effect.

Offset mortgages imo are a good way saving, you just have to be looking at the bigger picture in the long term


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## andyboyo (Dec 4, 2009)

mba said:


> Sound advice Andy thanks for sharing mate :thumb:
> 
> I especially agree with your approach to seeing your mortgage as part of your overall financial postion. I think anyone with a lump sum of cash and especially the likes of you in the higher rate tax bracket would need a real term interest rate of 6+% on your savings to get the same effect.
> 
> Offset mortgages imo are a good way saving, you just have to be looking at the bigger picture in the long term


Agreed to an extent that offset mortgages are a good way of saving in a higher interest rate environment. At present it makes no sense really for me to keep anything but a small reserve in my offset savings as I can get a better rate of return on ISA investments and also my SIP (share incentive plan).

My company SIP gives me 2 free shares for every 1 I buy up to a maximum of 2.5% of salary so the bottom would need to fall out of the oil majors before I lost any money of my own.

At present our European business is up for sale and is more than likely to be sold off shortly so our SIP may come to an end but as there is no CGT to pay on disposal if (when) we get sold then I shall continue to pay in the maximum I can.


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

Did you need to involve a solicitor ?



BoroDave74 said:


> I'm currently remortgaging to FD; I got in the day before the rates went up 0.2%, so 2.29%+BOE on LTV >65% but <75%.
> 
> Their lifetime trackers are as offset deals, so you have to take the current account, but don't have to transfer everything to them, just pay your monthly payment into the FD account.
> 
> ...


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## BoroDave74 (May 16, 2009)

No mate. The only cost we have incurred is the £99 booking fee for the lifetime tracker rate mortgage. FD contact my exisiting Mortgage lender, Santander, and get final outstanding amount and deed transfer.

Can't recommend FD highly enough for customer service; every time I have spoken to any member of staff they have been extremely helpful and clear...for a Yorkshire accent!

I can't find anyone else competitive with their rates, including fees etc, for remortgaging; tbh several of the major lenders won't lend to me and that's no CCJ, defaults, 34% deposit, so very pleased to be accepted for what looks like the best rate available.


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## BoroDave74 (May 16, 2009)

Just to update, ENACT do the conveyancing for First Direct remortgages and they were also excellent. Difference between amount remortgaged and outstanding mortgage balance was a few pounds which we paid by debit card over the phone, completed two days later. Worked out the first payment not for 40 days!
Can't recommend First Direct highly enough; also they are offering £100 if you switch your banking to them, you have to run their current account for their mortgage anyway.


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