So, your mortgage is coming to the
end of its product 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 take the ‘new product’
and stay with them. After this time,
they can’t guarantee the ‘new product’ will be available to you. 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 rate for you nearer the time. This is a pretty straight forward process to arrange and normally
they will have minimal paperwork and fee requirements.
As both a specialist mortgage
provider, as well as whole of market (including the high street lenders), impact
specialist finance has seen an increase recently in this type of transaction
and why wouldn’t you stay with your current lender if they offer you a great
product?
But sometimes they don’t offer you a
product at all! It doesn’t mean they
won’t! It just means that you should
find an experienced mortgage specialist who may be able to open up a door to a
wide range of opportunities available to you. This is the biggest debt you have
so take your time, ignore the ‘time pressures’ and ensure you seek advice, so
you don’t regret it further down the line.
