Fixed raet mortgages

OK thanks.

We found the best one here

Fisbey,

Have a good look around first, then make sure you read all the conditions of any mortgage deal you consider. Sometimes a good headline rate masks punitive redemption penalities or high arrangement fees.

B

Too true, if you look at whats on offer from that website i mentioned, then you'll see that some of the lowest % rate deals work out expensive when you look at the overall cost function
Martin

Good IFAs are like good accountants. They save you a lot more money than they charge you!

Chaps

The best overall bet is to go for a tracker mortgage. They are nearly always the cheapest in the long term and rarely have redemption charges.

Regards

Mick

I took out a 2 year discount rate mortgage in 2001 and when this expired I took a two year fixed rate and shortened my mortgage by three years at the same time. The decision to take any mortgage product should be based on your appetite to take risk and your current view on the direction of interest rates. I would only take a 5 year fixed rate if I was very risk averse or I thought that interest rates were at a low point (which I don't). Definitely avoid any product with extended redemption penalties as there are plenty of good deals that don't have these.
John

If you have a nest egg then offset mortgages can be attractive to very attractive depending on personnal circumstances - second the vote for using an IFA - they can have access to products the general public does not.

Contrary to some assertions here there is no magic type of mortgage that will always or almost always make you better off. Check out sites like Charcol and Moneyfacts but also talk to lenders. Most of these sites do not allow you to properly search by overall cost during any fixed, capped or tracker period. I found that when I spoke to lenders that there were loads of offers that simply don't appear on sites because they don't have anything with a sufficiently simple selling point.

My FR expired and my lender refused to offer anything sensible to replace it. I spoke to Leeds and Holbeck about a 2 yr. fixed at 4.29% but eventually went for another 2 yr. fixed at 5.1%. It doesn't look competitive until you realise that it cost me £60 to get into and will cost me £165 to get out of regardless of when if I needed to get out in the initial 2 years. The marginal increase over my previous payments at 4.75% have been more than offset by not having to pay arrangement, legal fees etc.

I still wouldn't recommend a specific lender. It's all about what you feel comfy with but I would certainly recommend looking at fee free mortgages. They look an incredibly bad deal on the up front figures but a bit of maths soon suggests many that are best buys. Guess what I'm spending the money I saved on???

Mike

quote:

An IFA would have done this for you, plus searched in places to which you would have no knowledge / access.

Erm, actually I went through 3 IFAs and none of them had any reference to the offer I eventually went with one day later. The offer had been on the market for around two months!!!

IFAs are all well and good but let's also not forget that negotiation is a great help too.

Mike