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Fixed Rate mortgage coming to an end, remortgage or stay on variable rate?

swordfish
by swordfish 09 October 2009  |  Comments 4 comments  |  Love Love  0 loves

I've had my mortgage for almost 5 years, the rate is 5.69% fixed, and that ends in January. Should I look to remortgage or should I stay on the variable rate for a while? I made a few large overpayments, almost halving the overall amount. Ideally I'd like to stay with a flexible mortgage product.

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Comments (4)

  • MikeGG1
    Love rating 824
    MikeGG1 posted

    Swordfish

    Interest rates are headed up sooner or later, so I would go for a long fix.

    Most providers allow up to 10% of the outstanding balance to be repaid in any one year. Is that flexible enough for you? If not, maybe you should consider reducing the term of the mortgage so that the basic repayments are higher.

    I am sure that someone from the LoveMoney mortgage team will be along to offer help soon. Their new search engine is good.

    Mike

    Posted on 09 October 2009 | Love Love  0 loves Report
  • TheWelshman
    Love rating 62
    TheWelshman posted

    Hi Swordfish

    Thanks for your question!

    How much equity do you have in the property? This is a major factor of what type of deal you are going to get if you remortgage.

    Whether you remortgage or not is really about your attitude to risk. MikeGG1 is similar to myself I think, and sees rates rising in the future.

    Will the rates be much higher in 6 months time? You can see in the market that a lot of the medium to long term fixed rates have already started to go up, nearly by 1% in some cases. The 2-3 year deal is becoming very competitive but that would mean you will need to remortgage again in 2 years time and possible into an even higher rate market.

    If your attitude to risk is cautious then fixing now for medium to long term would be an advantage.

    If you would like some assistance is searching the market you can email me on tim.wilson@lovemoney.com or ring me on 0800 804 8045.

    Regards

    TheWelshman ( a member of the lovemoney.com mortgage team )

    Posted on 09 October 2009 | Love Love  2 loves Report
  • swordfish
    Love rating 2
    swordfish posted

    Hi thanks for the quick replies. The original mortgage was for £130k (home valued at £169k), by the end of the year the balance will be £70k.

    Generally I take a risk-averse attitude to mortgages, so fixing for 5 years sounds fine to me. But this may depend on portability as we may want to move in that time.

    One slight concern I have is that if I remortgage, I will lose the borrow-back facility I currently have...although this is really a minor issue.

    Posted on 09 October 2009 | Love Love  0 loves Report
  • MikeGG1
    Love rating 824
    MikeGG1 posted

    http://www.britannia.co.uk/home/_site/channels/mortgage/products/medium-term-fixed-rates.html

    How does 4.99% fixed for 5 years sound?

    Mike

    Posted on 09 October 2009 | Love Love  0 loves Report

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