Remortgage... Never...
 

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[Closed] Remortgage... Never tried a broker, should I?

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(tried searching but could only find topics from about 7 years ago)

We are about to remortgage and stay with our lender. Going from 2.1% to about 0.9% and loan to value is 40% based on current house price. We also want to borrow a bit extra to sort out some long overdue projects.

We can't find anything cheaper with the regular suspects...is there much point trying either an independent/paid for broker, or a free broker that takes a cut/uses preferred lenders? I guess scope for a better deal is low as the new rate of 0.9 is fairly low already?

We have about 2 months in hand but don't want to miss out on the current low rate incase it goes up.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 9:25 am
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I just remortgaged. Simply couldn't be arsed trawling for the cheapest option, investigating, and organising it all.

Paid £300 to a local, personally-recommended broker to do it all for me, and am very happy with what he came up with.

{EDIT} Brokers (sometimes) have access to much better deals, too.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 9:30 am
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We used a mortgage broker when we bought our house. No fee, did all the paper work for us, answered all our questions and we ended up with the same mortgage that Money Supermarket said was the cheapest. When we need to remortgage we'll use the same broker again, mostly as it just made the whole process much easier than it would have been otherwise.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 9:38 am
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Definitely try a broker. We recently re-mortgaged and got a deal .75% better than I could find on line. It was free to as the broker takes a fee from the mortgage company.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 9:40 am
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It's years since I needed to but every time I've sorted a mortgage I've used a local no fee broker. Highly recommended, gets at least as good a deal as you can and takes all the work/stress out of it.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 9:44 am
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Mortgage broker I used was really good , he was part of a benefits service attached to my work so wasn't that expensive


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 9:55 am
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I paid my broker £300 last time. That was a bit complicated as I was remortgaging remortgaging to buy out the ex wife and my then-lender had refused to give me even the amount I had already borowed🙈
He found me a lender who could help and made the whole thing very simple, money well spent.
Due for renewal in March and i won't use one this time though as its much more straightforward, don't want to pay for something easy but don't mind paying when I do need help


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 9:58 am
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Yep, we use a broker each time. His cut comes from the mortgage company rather than us, but it's still cheaper and easier than us sorting it.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 10:03 am
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We went to a broker 3? years ago - he couldn't find a deal to match, let alone beat going with our lender (first direct) ourselves.

your experience may vary..


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 10:08 am
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We tried a broker and they only came up with the same deal I'd already found from a quick google. Just went direct to HSBC in the end and they were very good at sorting everything out. Totally hassle free and fee free (other than trying to sell us some extra insurance). Did the same as you and borrowed a bit more and that was very easy, almost too easy 🙂 Given your financial situation I'd say there's not much to be gained, the banks will be very happy to deal with you.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 10:08 am
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Thanks, all useful info 🙂

If anyone has remortgaged recently, what rates are you getting? The 0.9% is on a 3 year fixed.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 10:24 am
 5lab
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phone a broker, tell him what you've been offered, if its best in class he won't want your business anyway


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 10:33 am
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Just re-mortgaged (via a broker, highly recommended as the whole thing was dead straightforward) to a 2 year tracker that's Bank of England + 1.19% (so currently 1.29%). Would normally go fixed rate but went for this as we're trying to move and it has no early repayment charges.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 10:34 am
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They're not infallible - last broker we used set up a remortgage and extra loan with HSBC, we got a long way through the process before HSBC told us we weren't entitled to the rate they'd offered because the broker had ticked the wrong box somewhere. Sorted it direct with HSBC in the end, and got our fee back from the broker. So check what you sign up for.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 11:49 am
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I looked at changing but made my decision to stay with the current lender when I saw how little difference a change in rate would make. It's worth putting your numbers into a mortgage calculator and seeing if a rate change makes a material difference. For me, it was worth paying £5 to £10 a month more not to bother shifting it but my mortgage is pretty small.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 12:02 pm
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If anyone has remortgaged recently, what rates are you getting? The 0.9% is on a 3 year fixed.

On 2.12% on an 85% mortgage from 2yrs ago, due for renewal shortly. I've paid a bit off but house prices going daft mean I now get a 75% one so the rate my current provider is offering is 1.61%. 0.9 seems very good indeed!


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 12:20 pm
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We got 1.29% on a 5 year fixed with a 50% LTV about 4 months ago. Very happy with it. .9% sounds amazing.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 12:46 pm
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Ol Gil


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 1:19 pm
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^^ Ignore that.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 1:21 pm
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I work in finance and still use a broker - They are funded by the lenders by taking a cut of the fee and pretty much offer the same or better than what they offer direct. They also have direct contacts with the lenders ops teams so any issues and a good one will get involved and push it through.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 1:36 pm
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We remortgaged recently and kept with the same bank. This was literally 30 minutes online and then the new paperwork turned up a week later. I'm sure brokers have their uses but for simple stuff at least Nationwide made it trivial.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 3:04 pm
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I used a broker last time, made it all super easy and got us a good deal. I'll be using them again next time.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 3:13 pm
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Remortgaged with HSBC recently with a new 5 year fixed. Wanted to stay with HSBC as they’ve been excellent with us and I couldn’t find anything that would be better by any margin that mattered. Did it online, never spoke to anyone, hassle free and saving £50 a month now.
If you’ve got a huge mortgage and fractions of a percent matter a lot to your payments then a broker might be worth the money but for us with a £87k mortgage on a £300k house it wasn’t, especially as I wanted a longer fixed loan for peace of mind.


 
Posted : 10/09/2021 3:32 pm

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