Mortgages

[storm monkey]

I have a combined account, although with If. So far it has saved me about a grand in the last 18 months. I have chosen not to receive interest on my current accounts (mine, wifes and joint bills account) or on our savings, and instead pay less interest on the mortgage. This helps by reducing the higher rate of interest we would pay (which is usually less then the rate you receive), and as we don't receive interest, we don't pay tax on any, which would have cost us 40%. You need to look carefully before taking the plunge, as if you don't have enough in your accounts, then you loose out. For us though, it works to our advantage, and will take about 8 years off of a 25 year term.

Phil

 

[matt1978]

At the moment I got 12 yrs left, which I will drop to 10 yrs when I re-mortgage.........the idea was to fix it for 3 yrs and then once thats run out......re-mortgage to 5 years and then fix it again until its finished. That one account calculator said I could pretty much do it in 5 years from now if I increased what I was paying now and saving a little...so its gotta be worth considering.

 

[Robotstar5]

I have used a "mortgage broker" the last couple of times I have changed mortgage. Last time, fees were paid by lender to broker so no cost to me and I got £250 cashback!

Look for broker who does "whole of market" and is "fee free" (does not charge commission)

Check out moneysavingexpert.com

 

[shenion]

The problem with brokers is they will likely resell the mortgage. My original mortgage was sold twice.

I went with a mortgage banker on the 2nd and 3rd refi. They redid their own mortgage the second time. Went from 30-year down to 15 and still lowered payment

Nice for me is it is a FHA loan, absolutely no cost to refi

 

[Justme]

18 months rent is probably about 10k, so prices would have to drop quite a bit.

Not realy as you will have been paying that (on a 160k mort) in mort payments any way for a house possibly going down value. We are looking at selling soon & not buying for a bit.

Justme