How Can You Get the Best Remortgage Deal?
So your remortgage is coming up and suddenly your repayments are looking like they are set to rocket – what on earth do you do?!
We all know that interest rates have been steadily rising and anyone who has a mortgage has probably been following the news and biting their nails, wondering how it will impact them. So we’re here to help you navigate a tricky financial time.
What is a remortgage?
If this is your first time, let’s go over what a remortgage actually is.
When you got your mortgage, it’s likely that you got a fixed rate deal, either for 2 or 5 years. When that time runs out, you will be moved onto a standard variable rate mortgage, which means your repayments are likely to vary each month in line with interest rate fluctuations, OR you can remortgage and find a new fixed rate product.
Now, interest rates are NOT what they were 5 or even 2 years ago. So if you’re looking to remortgage, you are aware that you repayments are only going one way…
How can you get the best remortgage deal?
Lets level with you here – you are most likely going to be paying more. The question is just… how much more? And how can you reduce that increase as much as possible?
Well, the good news is that there is a simple answer here. Just like when you GOT your mortgage – you should use a broker.
Now there are a lot of people who think that this is a waste of money, as there is a chance that a product transfer with your current lender is the best deal, so why would you pay for that advice? Why not just do that yourself?
Well, it comes down to risk – sure you could stay with your current lender, but what if you could save possibly hundreds per month by moving to another lender? And how are you – with your busy day job and lack of experience – going to find that better deal?
The solution is that you work with a broker.
- Choose a whole-of-market broker. If you’re going to be investing (and yes, it is an investment!) in a broker, make sure you’re not limiting yourself in anyway and you’re working with someone who is going to be able to scour the market for the best deal
- Choose a specialist. There are various types of mortgages out there. From first-time-buyer to buy-to-let. Make sure your broker has the relevant experience, you’ll benefit hugely from that advice and experience
What if you want to go it alone?
We really don’t recommend going it alone, but… ok.
You have two options here.
First, you can look at a product transfer with your current lender.
- Get in touch. Log into your online banking or call their mortgage team directly. Find out what your options are with them
- Make sure to check your budget. Yes, you could jump on one of those options immediately, but take the time to mull it over. Do the maths – can you afford this increase? How will this affect the rest of your living budget?
- Do your research. Just because you can afford it, still doesn’t mean you should jump at it. Check online to see what other deals are available – could you be saving more elsewhere? You will be severely limited in what you can find out, but it’s worth looking
If you decide to go ahead, you can select the option you prefer in your online banking and then it’s just a simple case of working through the paperwork (sorry, there is ALWAYS paperwork).
The other option is that you scan the market yourself. You can reach out to other lenders to find out what products they are offering. This, as you can imagine, is pretty time consuming and will require a LOT more paperwork.
Now, both of these options require you to research. Sure, if you’re just doing a product transfer, you could skip the research step, but why would you want to make an uninformed decision?!
But without the time, the experience or the access to the whole of the market, your research is going to be pretty limited and it’s incredibly likely that you will miss out on better deals, just because you have no idea how to access them – or that they even exist.
So yes, that’s how you could do it alone – but really, please don’t!
In fact, you can give us a call and we can help you out with a broker who can work with you on your remortgage. It will make your life a million times easier – trust me!
There you go – in a time of increasingly tight margins, hopefully that helps you towards finding the best remortgage deal you can.
