Why remortgage?
Remortgaging can be done for a wide variety of reasons, however the most common remortgaging ‘situation’ that we work with here at White Mortgages is when a client’s current mortgage deal is expiring and they want to move to a better deal. By ‘the current mortgage deal is expiring’ we mean that their fixed rate term, or similar is coming to an end.
When a mortgage deal comes to the end of it’s fixed rate term, it usually goes onto what is called a standard variable rate. In your original mortgage illustration, there will be a section which explains that you have a fixed rate of, for example, 1.92% for two years and after those two years you will move onto the standard variable rate of, for example 3.45%. Each lender may have a different rate to the next and will detail the reversionary rate within the mortgage illustration they give you. However, the rate quoted is at the start of your mortgage and may well have changed by the time your deal ends, but will most likely see your repayments increase.
There are some variable rate mortgages which also have a certain term on a specific deal, so ask your adviser if you’re unsure as to whether or not your current mortgage has a set term deal on it.
How do I go about remortgaging?
If you’re an existing client, we will be in contact with you 6 months before the end of your current mortgage deal to let you know that we’re here to help you with your remortgage process. At this point, you don’t need to do anything other than keep in mind that your mortgage deal is coming to an end.
It’s likely that your current lender will be in touch around the same time as us, but we always urge you to fully explore your options when remortgaging. Although your present lender may have offered the best option last time, it doesn't follow that they are still your best choice.
If you’ve received such a letter from your current lender and you’re not an existing client, we’d love to hear from you. We use a whole of market approach to secure you the most competitive deal available to you.
You’ll receive a further email 3 months before your current mortgage deal expires, this email invites you to book an appointment with your adviser. At this point we can begin looking at your options for remortgaging and your adviser will start to look at what you’re wanting to achieve in the remortgage process.
Your aims in remortgaging might be to raise extra funds to make some adjustments to your home, it might be to reduce the term of your mortgage (how long there is left on the mortgage), it might be that you want to keep everything the same but make sure that you’re on the best deal that you can be on.
Your adviser will discuss the options with you and see what could be possible for you, based on your current income and outgoings. They will then begin to approach lenders to see what mortgage deals are available to you.
If you’re wanting to keep the same amount of borrowing and the same term, it might be that your adviser will approach your current lender to see if they can offer you a competitive deal to stay with them. However, it may be the case that even in this situation, the most competitive deal lies with another lender.
What happens when we’ve decided on a lender and a new mortgage product?
When you and your adviser have decided on the most suitable product for you, they will formally apply for your new mortgage. Once this has been agreed, we will be in touch to let you know the next steps.
Between your new mortgage being agreed and completion (moving to your new rate) a number of things will be going on behind the scenes.
Our admin team will be liaising with your solicitors to see how your case is progressing, unfortunately the legal process is out of our hands but we do our best to keep in regular contact with your solicitors to ensure your case is progressing as we’d expect. Some solicitors are better than others at sharing information with us, but rest assured we’re regularly asking them for updates.
We will be in regular contact to update you on how your remortgage is progressing or to request further information to progress the case. If you hear a little less from us in this stage than you did at the beginning of your remortgage process, it’s completely normal but please know that your case is of the utmost importance to us and if you have any questions please do just ask.
Your adviser will likely contact you at this point to discuss reviewing your insurance needs, we’ll then begin to look into different insurance options for you making sure that you have sufficient protection for your mortgage.
Once your remortgage has been completed, we will be in touch to both pass on our congratulations and reiterate that we are always at the end of the phone or an email if you need us.
This overview gives a flavour of what happens in a remortgage process, however every process is unique so please view this as an overview than a step by step guide.
