Free CDX2 anyone?

Rasher,

What's a "tracker" ? I am paying 7.0% locked in until April, after which the rate will probably go up. I wonder if it's possible to move my mortgage off-shore ?

Minky - "A tracker is a mortgage whose rate 'tracks' the bank base rate, simply adding a fixed premium on top of the bank base rate eg base + 0.5%."
Or lower than the bank base rate, the difference between a variable rate being that a variable follows the lenders rate, fixed by themselves, not the bank base rate.
If you are paying 7%, you are losing a lot of money each month. If you want to get out in April, then go shopping now. Use a good broker. If you have no problem proving you earn more than 4 times the amount you are borrowing, you should get a rate 0.2% below the bank base rate, say 3.65%. That is halving your interest payment each month. Free money. You may get a XPS2 as well

Rasher et al

Having just moved house a new mortgage was essential !

I opted for a two year fixed at 0.5% above base but with one added advantage - as I was borrowing over £100,000 I got a cash kickback !!

Talk about free money - YIPPEE !

Then the wife went shopping for new furniture

Go look - they are as desperate to give away mortgage money as builders are to make new houses !!

Oh, and change EVERY time you can - force the hand of the lender.

Same can apply to credit cards with 0% balance transfers - if you want to drip off something expensive (say a 552/500 ) - get two cards and swap the balances every 6 months. Best form of interest free credit as you get all the usual CC benefits (airmiles, insurance etc.)

Except that one day you have to pay it off
I have a devloper client who has over 35 properties, and he started it all off by borrowing on credit cards!!

Pay the mortgage off and you could buy a CDS3 in a few months.

Regards

Mick

How much can you lend me Mick?

Rasher

Yes, but if you had the money for a 552/500 in the bank ready to spend and lobbed it onto your cards at 0% APR, the interest you would make over the period of payment (from the interest earning account !) would add up to a considerable amount.

I'm in the process of doing exactly that with my 6k system and the interest will pay for the base level of my Fraim !

I even got a telesales call from one of my card companies (after I balance transfered) to "offer their services" and I aasked them if they could improve the deal I had with my other card - I got 12 months transfer at 0% instead of 6 months !

Apparently market-share is the key issue for them at the moment as it makes reporting their business look better.

quote:

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Originally posted by Rasher:
Minky - "A tracker is a mortgage whose rate 'tracks' the bank base rate, simply adding a fixed premium on top of the bank base rate eg base + 0.5%."
Or _lower _ than the bank base rate, the difference between a variable rate being that a variable follows the lenders rate, fixed by themselves, not the _bank base _ rate.
If you are paying 7%, you are losing a lot of money each month. If you want to get out in April, then go shopping now. Use a good broker. If you have no problem proving you earn more than 4 times the amount you are borrowing, you should get a rate 0.2% below the bank base rate, say 3.65%. That is halving your interest payment each month. Free money. You may get a XPS2 as well

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The problem is that my 7.0% was the best deal I could get 2 years ago (.5% shading behind normal rate) and interest rates are on the rise in NZ. All of this talk of 3.65% makes me very jealous (this rate would save me enough for a 552 in two years) and makes me wonder if it's possible for me to finance my house through a UK or US bank.

Yes, it was a disingenuous question, but it pisses me off that we have such high interest rates here. The question is, why ?

Minky - You have a PT

Mortgage alternatives:

A few years ago when we came out of one lock in period on a mortgage we looked at remortgaging and at the various discounted deals we could get. After looking at the legal, survey and other costs we decided to go in a different direction.

As both my wife and I are 40% tax payers and we had some cash earning bugger-all in the bank, we came to the conclusion that we were as well going for an offset mortgage. In these your savings, credit balance in the current account and mortgage balance are all netted and you pay daily interest on this net balance. This means that instead of earning say (2% after tax) on your savings and nothing on credit balances in the current account, you are 'earning' the same as your mortgage interest rate. the daily calculation is quite inportant because it means your salary is offsetting the mortgage from the day you are paid each month.

Of course whether it is worthwhile depends on your tax position and also whether you tend to exist in the black or red. Even if you tend to drift into an overdrawn position each month it could be worthwhile as you only pay mortgage rates not punative overdraft interest.

the other thing that is great about these accounts is the flexibility it gives you. Our mortgage is quite modest but the maximum borrowing limit is based on the full value of our house - so when I get some cash out of the bank the slip says blance today minus £50k or so, available to withdraw today £347k! ... think I'll pay a visit to the Ferrari dealer

Phil

and makes me wonder if it's possible for me to finance my house through a UK or US bank.

Well certainly in the UK you can get a mortgage that tracks US of EUR interest rates, the problem is that you then have considerable FX rate risk. Now probably would not be a good time to borrow US$, but EUR might be an option.
John

quote:

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Originally posted by long-time-dead:
Go look - they are as desperate to give away mortgage money as builders are to make new houses !!

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Shame even though I've got a guaranteed 95% chance of being approved for a mortgage, there's nothing at or even within +50% of my borrowing capability that would be worth selling my soul for right now...

Surely these tracker mortgages could potentially be more dangerous than a fixed rate one - remember, interest rates can go up as well as down...

...and apparently the stock market is recovering, potentially meaning people like me who actually want to buy a house to do the LUDICROUS thing of actually LIVING in it might well make good at last...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Hi Dom

Relocate to Scotland where house prices are fairer than where you stay !

quote:

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Originally posted by Rasher:
. Currently, I am about to get a 3.85% tracker for 2 years, no tie in after 24 months, which is a saving of 0.9% on my present one.

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Pretty good deal.

Who is the lender, if you dont mind me asking?

Regards

Mike

On the Yellow Brick Road and Happy

Halifax of all people!! It was going to be 3.85%, but in the end I signed up for 4.15% because I could avoid larger fees, and the difference, considering that I would be shopping again in two years, didn't add up.
Royal Bank of Scotland have an identical product. Nothing between them except how quick they are to process the application.
Halifax product code HMV873, if I'm allowed to say

Gawd Bless Ya Guv'ner

Ta.

Regards

Mike

On the Yellow Brick Road and Happy

It will be interesting to return to this thread in a year's time when we've had bi-monthly interest rate rises.

Bob

quote:

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Originally posted by bob mccluckie:

bi-monthly interest rate rises.

Bob

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NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooo

I will not leave my world of illusion and delusion

Mike