Remortgaging property

It used to be unusual to switch mortgages every few years or so, but the mortgage marketplace then became much bigger, offering far more choice, and lenders increasingly offered competitive deals to lure borrowers away from their existing mortgages.

The mortgage marketplace is significantly smaller now, but there are still lots of new deals continually being offered, and so it often pays to contact remortgage lenders or brokers to see if there is a deal that is right for you.

There is still a good choice of products, whether you want a flexible remortgage (typically allowing you to underpay or overpay and possibly take payment holidays), a tracker remortgage (either linked to the lender's variable rate or the Bank of England base rate, following the base rate with a discount or a premium for a set period of time) or a fixed rate remortgage (where the interest is set at a certain level for a certain period, regardless of whether the lender’s variable rate goes up or down over the period) for example.

Other remortgage options may include discounted variable-rate mortgages (where there is a discount off the lender’s standard variable rate) and capped-rate remortgages (where an upper limit on the interest rate charged is set so that if the lender's variable rate rises above this you will be unaffected, just as you would with a fixed rate mortgage. Conversely, you benefit if the lender's rate falls below the level of your cap).

Lending criteria has been tightened and availability reduced for certain remortgages. If you are looking for an interest only remortgage, some lenders are increasingly setting limits on what they will lend. Some remortgages that represent a higher risk to the lender are likely to attract higher interest rates and therefore higher monthly repayments, such as adverse credit remortgages (also known as bad credit remortgages or a problem remortgage).

To search out a best buy remortgage, contact lenders and mortgage brokers, or use the online remortgage comparision tools available on mortgage websites.

By Ben West