D8UGF

Right chaps and chappettes, need some advice on what to do regarding my mortgage, just from your own personal experiences.

Will explain my situation a bit: currently live at home with my folks in a large bungalow, mortgage for the house is currently in my name and due to recent interest rate rises has increased to what I believe is an unacceptable level.

51K @ £372/month over 21 years. Large amount of equity on the house (well over 100K) so I have been thinking of remortgaging to do some house improvements/ free up some cash. Pretty straightforward up till now but we are thinking of selling the house in the next year or two in order that my folks can get back into the local town and i can get on the property ladder proper.

So I am looking for one that will have very little or no penalties but will still be worthwhile economically to warrant changing lender.

Have been looking at self-cert/interest only mortgages as a way of reducing ,monthlies and freeing up some cash. Does anyone have any thoughts on these or any other ideas?

All suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks in advance

Dougie

davegtt

u think interest rates are unacceptable, dread to think what your opinion maybe in 2 years time then cause the only way is up atm

D8UGF

Yeah I know Dave! Luckily shouldnt have too big a burden after the house sale! Didnt mean interest rates were unnacceptable just meant that it is quite an old mortgage now and IIRC the first payments were circa 270 a month, so its time to renew the ol' finances!

Dougie

scoob_babe

www.charcolonline.co.uk

think that's right, otherwise send a pm to fast bloke!

D8UGF

Cheers Scoobbabe, been on there having a mous around.

OllieC

Yup, Charcol are the guys to talk to..... although you won't work it out from the site. You need advice mate, not just interst rates thrown at you. Of course, being an advisor for them I have a slight bias...

A few points though:

Rates are almost certainly not going to continue rising (in fact, they will probably rise 0.25% more and then level or possibly drop over the next couple of years). You can tell this from looking at the shifts in swap rates over the past few months. Or at least you can tell that this is what the city is expecting.

Lots of people abuse self-cert mortgages. Remember that if you lie to a lender you have committed fraud. There's rarely a good enough reason to do this. A good broker should be able to place most mortgages without telling you to commit fraud, provided it is affordable.

An interest only mortgage could be a good idea as you don't plan to live in the house permanently although if you're doing this to make the mortgage affordable, chances are you're taking on too much of a commitment.

Hope this helps...

Ollie

D8UGF

Thanks Ollie, sound advice there. Will prob need to talk to a good independant financial advisor, was just lookin for some personal experiences on here as well. TBH its not a case of I cant afford the current mortgage its just being a good scotsman I like to be paying less than I am for the same amount!

Thanks

Dougie