Navigating Your Remortgage
When your special rate is coming to an end, whether its a fixed rate or a variable rate, it's a good idea to have your next mortgage lined up and ready to go.
We talk about this in another article, What Happens At The End Of My Fixed Rate?
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In that article we looked at a couple of options for remortgaging, what I want to focus on today is the process for remortgaging to a new lender.
At Boulter Mortgages we work with our clients on a lifetime basis. So, the remortgage process tends to be quite quick and painless. We already know you; we've discussed your long-term plans and have a lot of your existing details.
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With that being said we will always request a meeting or call to go over any changes in income or circumstances before we get started on your remortgage recommendation.
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In this meeting, we'll look at:
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Changes in income/expenditure.
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Changes in circumstance.
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Future plans e.g. if you're thinking of moving, having children or if you need to do any work to the property that you may need extra funds for.
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This discussion should take place 6-months before your existing rate ends. This is to safeguard the rates available at the earliest opportunity. We can always change the rate later if they decrease, however if we miss a good window to apply, that rate may not come back.
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We will then go away and begin our research.
We'll look at your existing lender to see if they offer the most favourable pricing. We'll also conduct our research across the whole of the market to ensure that all options are considered.
At this point you'll receive a comprehensive recommendation, based on the cheapest option available for your circumstances.
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Just as you may have experienced when purchasing, there may fees attached to the product.
Our recommendations are based on the cheapest deal available over the initial fixed term, inclusive of any fees. So regardless of whether the product has a fee attached, you'll know that we'll always hunt out the best deal.
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Remortgages are slightly different to purchases, in that the lender will usually provision for the solicitor to complete the remortgage process. This will be in the form of a free legal service, or with cashback to cover your legal expenses. This will be explained in your recommendation.
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Also on the recommendation will be a request for your updated documents. This will include updated payslips, tax calculations and overviews, bank statements and anything else we might need.
If you're happy with the new lender and you want to move ahead, we'll review your documents and submit the new application. The application process is the same as it would be with a purchase and should take 2-6 weeks with some cases falling outside of that.
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We'll keep you updated with progress. Generally, the lender will:
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Request supporting evidence at application, this evidence will go to processing and signed off as acceptable (or request others.)
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They will then instruct the valuation, this could be a physical valuation or a desktop valuation; this is where they complete the valuation internally using software designed for this job.
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An underwriter will then review the case, they may come back to us with other questions or adjustments
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Finally, your mortgage offer will be issued. The offer will be sent to you and your solicitor as well so that they can get started on the transfer
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Your solicitor, whether it's the lenders instruction or ours will send you a questionnaire to be completed along with ID verification and any other documents they might need.
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It's incredibly important to complete this step as quickly as possible to avoid any hold ups.
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We will always aim for completion of the new mortgage the day after your fixed rate ends. This protects you from any early repayment charge, but also from slipping onto your existing lenders Standard Variable Rate (SVR). This rate will come into effect the very next day and is a lot higher than their other product rates.
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Once your solicitors have the information they need, they can complete their checks and prepare for completion.
We will be in touch with your solicitor to ensure they have everything they need in order to complete and will help in any way we can.
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Around a week before completion, your solicitor will request a redemption statement from your original lender. This will give a final balance of the mortgage, which will be paid with your new mortgage.
If there are any discrepancies on this statement, please don't worry, contact us immediately to get it resolved.
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On the day of completion, the solicitor will handle the transfer of funds and will let you know that completion has taken place.
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As always, we'll check and make sure you have the right insurance policies in place as the mortgage total may have changed. We'll also make a note to get in touch 6-months before your new rate ends.​
That's really the process in a nutshell. It will vary, depending on what you want.
Remortgaging is a great time to look at what you want next and make changes. You might want to add someone or take someone off the mortgage. You might want to look at flexible options if you're thinking of moving. You might want to borrow more or pay off a lump sum. We'll be here to guide you through it all. ​
