Should I remortgage now or wait?

January 26, 2009 by Brendan

Advice & Tips

If you are coming to the end of your current mortgage deal, then you will no doubt be wondering whether you should be looking to remortgage or whether you would get a better mortgage deal by holding off for a little while, especially with everything in the news about the government’s latest bank rescue package.

When your mortgage deal ends, you would automatically be put on the bank’s standard variable rate (SVR), which in the past has usually meant you’d be paying over the odds but at the moment, this is not always strictly the case.

The first thing to do in order to answer this question is to check how much your house is worth. Then, check with your mortgage company for how much you have left to pay off your mortgage. The difference between these two figures will tell you how much equity you have in your home and the percentage of that equity. This will also tell you what percentage of the mortgage a bank would have to lend you, i.e. the Loan to Value (LTV)

Enlist the help of a mortgage broker or mortgage advisor to help you find the best deals available to you. A mortgage advisor will also know what a bank is likely to accept or not. If these best rates are higher than the SVR then you’re better off waiting, otherwise you’ll save money by switching but remember to take into account any fees for setting up the new mortgage, which the mortgage advisor can tell you about.