What do you mean by this. Is it just semantics or does it ACTUALLY make a difference. Is this Fixed Rate NOT what it appears to be. Can you please enlighten me as I am just about to go for this.

It is getting farcical to be honest, as per your experience I had 2 separate lengthy conversations, the 2nd one asked me exactly the same questions as the 1st! As my exasperation grew I became very monosyllabic and abrupt with my answers, at which point the "advisor" stated it was becoming quite painful, oh how I laughed and informed him how much more painful it was for me! I almost gave up and threatened to raise a complaint with FD about the whole tiresome process. When they are on the phone to you it locks out your account so you cannot log in to confirm details of transactions, pathetic to say the very least. When mine does go through I will indeed raise a complaint as this is very shoddy service from what has been up until now an excellent bank!

What is the most painless or rather least painful option.

Applying online or over the phone?

Well as a general rule you should be putting 15% of your income into retirement and then overpay what you can on your mortgage so you should really be doing both if you can.

Is chucking money at SIPP and getting the tax relief a better thing to do rather than overpaying on the mortgage?

You my boy!, are talking absolute nonsense

It's probably what rich people have, when they can get money for only 1.84% and get a much higher return on investment on it

So if I bought a property valued 135 000 and On renewal I have to pay 100 000 is the LTV calculated from the original loan or the 100 000?
Thanks.

Any rate rise won't be making it cost £2.5k more than otherwise over the next few years. Minimum wage rises do nothing also. Raise the wage of Tesco workers to £9/hour and the food prices that they buy will go up slightly also + more cash to pay towards rent rises. Pretty sure people on £5.25/hour minimum wage before don't feel any better off on £7.50 now

Fee free mortgage? Just started applying and they want £149 valuation fee. Is this right?

I'm paying 377 a month on variable. Going with this would make it just a little more for ten years or a bit less for 5 years. Undecided which to do.

I've banked with them for around 15 years and my current 5 year fixed mortgage with them ends in November. Gave them a ring about their 5 year 2.14% rate and pretty much got the nod there and then. Asked a few questions about current house valuations in my area. Was then told I would get a 15 minute phonecall a couple of days later. They phoned on time, a few minutes later it was done! No paperwork, no survey, just straight on to this product in November. Couldn't believe how easy it was as last time I had a pretty stressful experience because of the credit crunch. I have to give credit to first direct, they are second to none in terms of customer service and they have competitive rates in a number of their products.

If you're on 2 or 5 year offers then you have no need to overpay. You can easily beat 2% interest on savings instead

Search mortgages then search for "5 Year Fixed Fee Saver". It is 60% LTV like here.

good offer, but they are indeed picky.

The FD mortgage advisor stopped my appplication halfway because i wasn't able to give her the net BLT income from my self assessment for 16-17, simply because i haven't done my self assesment yet. I explained that the deadline for the self assessment is end of Jan 18, but that fell on deaf ears.

rental income minus mortgage payment should have been sufficient for their affordability calculations.

10 mins!!

when we first applied we had to have the affordabilty phone call, and it lasted 2 hours!!

Well they wrote and phoned my Wifes school to speak to the headmaster, despite me telling them not to call through lesson times, they did, they wanted to ask her boss about job security etc, so I would say you are sreewed

It's not about guaranteed rent. You will need to declare to any lender that one of the properties is not your main residence, and that will have an impact on the mortgage rate. You will be dealing with lender stress rates and interest cover ratio's. If you're not aware of these factors, FD would be.

Being in probation is a big risk when applying for mortgages full stop - as I understand it some banks will consider you as not employed until the probation has been succesfully completed and you can provide evidence of it

If I change jobs just before I apply for the mortgage, meaning I have to wait 6 months to complete probation in my new company, does the lending bank ask for a permanent job for a certain amount of months before agreeing to lend? Wondering if changing jobs affects the application.

Complete next week, 5 years at 2.29%. Only got 82% ltv though so couldn't use this deal, great if you can.

I asked specifically the question as we have a £1900 early termination fee, and she did not say there is a minimum, she said just to call up tell them the term you then wanted (ours would be to clear the termination fee) and they recalculate for you, or you can just go to low repayments for the rest of the full term

Yes, they would have to honour the unlimited extra payment condition.

So you could pay thee whole mortgage off apart from £1 a month due over the remaining term, and I don't think they would be able to do much about it...

That is annoying as that is specifically what I asked when i signed up to my mortgage with them and was told you cannot do it. Good to know you can do it though if required, although i'm sure they must have a lower limit on what your minimum monthly repayments can be.

you were informed incorrectly, as we just did this, you have to ask them to recalculate your monthly min based on the amount left, so they effectively lower your monthly min repayment to reflect, I do agree that they would say no for a £1, but they can and do recalucalate

in that case just go for the lower 1.59% 2 year fixed rate :smile:

Even if you are hoping to pay off in 2 years I would always go for the longest term they will allow to keep your committed monthly amount as low as possible and use your overpayments to pay what you actually want to pay

Getting a mortgage and not understanding what LTV stands for would be quite worrying

but most mortgage companies including first direct won't let you have multiple mortgages on the same property for that lending purpose.
They asses the reason for the borrowing and if it's to repay their own product at a higher interest rate they will not allow it.

Ah, that is sneaky. I am hoping to get a new job in the next few months that will allow me to potentially pay off my mortgage in 2 years, but dont want the pain of the last 8 years of payments hanging around. My current rate finishes in 6 months and think it might be more prudent to remain on the riskier floating rate with the ability to truly overpay.

FD are my current providers and have been my worst experience on mortgages to date and lets say I've had a few! Whole internal mortgage departments don't seem to communicate and their security section was a nightmare to deal with!! I'd also agree that they are very very picky with who they lend to!

I would be cautios anyone thinking that you can pay off all but £1 and avoid any termination fees.

I signed up to this mortgage at the end of last year when the rate was at 2.08% for 5 years (all other terms unlimited overpayments, LTV etc. exactly the same)

I also had the same idea and asked on the phone if I could use the unlimited overpayments to pay all but a nominal amount (such as £1) of the loan off early and avoid paying any early repayment charges. I was told that I could not do this as there would have to be enough of the loan remaining to enable me to keep paying the minimum monthly repayment until the end of the initial fixed term.

Example
- Your fixed repayment amount is £300 per month (based on a 25 year term)
- You have 2 years (24 months) left of your minimum 5 year fixed term

In this example your maximum 'unlimited' overpayment would need to leave a balance of at least £7,200 remaining to allow you to keep making your minimum £300 monthly payment for the remainder of your minimum term (without being subject to early repayment charges)

As the original post states, I wish everyone a hell of a lot of luck getting a mortgage out of First Direct. I wouldnt even bother, not only will they decline you, its a nice completely unfair mortgage decline on your credit check for other lenders. I would stay very clear from them.

I have just gone through this with Direct Line

Be warned

You will have a horrendous time with their ID checks, they were bloody awful and rude to me, it is a long story but basically my doctor wont sign documents, so the only person on the list (which is a small list BTW) I could get was a pharmacist (who were not to pleased when I asked them to do it) but then direct line phone said pharmacist and if he does not come to the phone in 3 attempts they discount the ID and you have to start again, it was horrible, they expect pharmacists to give up their day to answer phone calls, when I challenged them their response was " A proper pharmacist would not have a problem!"

Also unless you bank with them you will be required to set up your own standing order, this is not made clear and we nearly missed our first payment because of the small print.

Never never again, they caused so much stress with their ID checks, I am still mad some 6 months later

Yikes, it looks like the banks are getting ever more desperate to sign people up given the drop in transactions.

Just be careful folks, the bank are protecting themselves here and not yourself i.e the 60% LTV , but a great deal non the less.

So it's not unlimited then?

I have look into their website an cannot find it. Link will be very helpful. Thanks

My Current Mortgage is with HSBC with LTV lower than 20% by now. My fixed rate will end by the end of November, so is it a good time to look around now.

Does any one now whether it will be a straight forward decision ??

yes ENACT are Absolutely Hopeless and they WILL charge you more than they say for their incompetent conveyancing

i took this deal in march/april and this offer is still going strong

I agree with this - am in a similar position with very low LTV having banked with them since the day they started, 1988??? Have had a mortgage with them for ~18 years and never had a single issue, looking to move and thought would be a quick call as the new mortgage value is less than 40% of the original offset mortgage I have currently and so far have spent 90 minutes on a 'fact finding call' (after which they did provide me with a mortgage in principle) have been told I now have to have a further 2 hour call to discuss my requirements with a mortgage advisor and then they advised me I will have to wait around 6-8 weeks to find out if the mortgage has been approved! I did say to the guy are you serious, I am borrowing less than i already owe, the LTV is 70% less than when I took the original mortgage and the potential mortgage available to me according to other calculators would be over 4 times what I am actually asking to borrow but he just said thats the process they have to follow!

Good luck for anyone going through the process of applying as I am stunned at the level of scrutiny that is now carried out (even though years ago it was clearly too lax)

Wish this had been posted a month ago, as would have done this over the 5 year deal I've just renewed with Nat West!

Whilst it's not worth changing financially now that needs to be balanced with the risk of rates rising. The only way the BoE can stop the current credit bubble is to increase rates and to do that the minimum wage will need to rise a little as well. The other unknown is Brexit. If all that sounds like a big risk then the way to proceed is to get a fixed rate deal.

RJ1
I have just successfully applied for the 5yr fixed, but I'm also thinking about a move. The mortgage needs to be switched within 6 months of the successful application, but FD have advised me to try to finalise between 4 and 6 weeks of expiry date, as it takes time at their end to complete the necessaries.
Just note however, that I have advised FD I'm going for a repayment mortgage. If I do decide to move before I take up their offer, I will have to reapply from scratch for a new home mortgage, so you won't be able to go for a remortgage now on your existing house, and then take the mortgage out on a new property when you move - but you can port it.

Hope this helps

HSBC has 1.84% 5 year with no product fee

Don't bother, not worth the cost. In 2 years you might be on a lower LTV & rates won't rise much with 0.25% base rate

Only need the latest p60 if you are planning on using bonus, have recently changed job or are self employed and employed. It's a nice to have instead of a necessary.

There is 2 scenarios why you were declined. It wasn't affordable to run both mortgages without rent as you have no track record of rent or your intention was to sell the other property and pay off the new mortgage as they don't offer short term lending.

If you told them up front, they should have identified that issue before they started requesting docs but mistakes happen. :poop:

3 months and your latest p60

It was to do with the fact that I wouldn't be selling the house we're currently living in but I'd made that clear from the start of the application and had letters from estate agents showing guaranteed rent would more than cover the current mortgage payments. After being rejected by them I spoke with a mortgage broker who said FD reject 50% of the applications he puts with them and all for petty reasons which go through with other lenders without issues.
It's not the rejection that annoyed me, it's the weeks of providing your life financial history just to be told " sorry, you don't meet our lending criteria" when they were told those details at the beginning..... Arrrrrgh!

Just (this month) got this mortgage after starting the application in February...(some delays weren't their fault due to us needing to travel during that time)

The application process is slow and error prone, and whilst the people on the phone were professional and helpful, everything needed chasing and every bit of documentation caused them problems multiple times.

Enact were actually very quick once everything had got sorted out.

Deal is good I think, only obvious issue is portability if moving house which they are very vague on (I'm assuming it won't work)

3 months

does anyone know how many payslips do they ask for? thanks

any idea how long you can lock this deal for? My doesn't finish till next year

Speak to them is my advice and they can tell you if they'll accept you with a new job.

I've just had my mortgage approved from FD despite moving jobs two months ago and before I had received my first payslip. They asked for a copy of my contract and wanted to know how long the probation was (6 months). Because I moved within the same industry, the income was decent and having banked with for a couple of years they were happy to take it forward.

Worth a 10 minute phone call.

Unlimited overpayments on these FD mortgages, see the description

FWIW, we've just used Enact for our Barclays remortgage as it was thrown in. No problems here, although we didn't ask them for anything above the ordinary.

All done online and kept us well informed every step of the way.

Thanks appreciate that. TBH I had tried it and I tried it again to start from this page

hsbc.co.uk/1/2…h=1

I still can not find the fee free mortgage all that come are Fee Paying Mortgae. It might be something to do with my Browser.

Thanks again for the info. I called HSBC and they confirm this mortgage is available.

Barclays (Woolwich) also use ENACT, and I agree, they are hopeless. Miscalculated charges, poor admin and difficult to speak to. Got very annoyed with them when going through a remortgage.

Porting is not a guarantee. 10 years is a long time. Obviously if your financial situation remains the same or gets better all should be ok, but in 7 years time FD are within their rights to say you don't meet their criteria for an increase where another lender might be fine. It's worth bearing in mind.

‘Porting’ is a term used for the transfer of your current first direct rate from one property to another when you sell your property and buy another at the same time. This may be available subject to Terms and Conditions.

ah yes, the not so poor people pretending to be rich, I know those rascals. Uncle Rupert always told me to watch out for those types.

mortgage? what's a mortgage? Is it something poor people have?

"If you take a Fixed Rate Mortgage and you repay the whole of your mortgage during the Fixed Rate period an Early Repayment Charge will apply. This charge is calculated at 3% of the original mortgage amount during first year of the Fixed Rate period and 2% of the original mortgage amount if the mortgage is closed in any subsequent year during the Fixed Rate period. If you choose to repay your mortgage after the Fixed Rate period has ended, no Early Repayment Charge will apply."

Keep this in mind - you will still pay an ERC on the original mortgage amount if you close / move your mortgage at any point during the 10 year term, even if you overpay during that time.

e.g. You could overpay until you have a mortgage balance of £1 but if you repay fully you will pay £3k on a £100k mortgage in year 1, or £2k on a £100k mortgage in years 2-10

HSBC allows 10% overpayments of the outstanding balance at the start or the without penalty so FD may be similar

Hsbc have a 2yr fixed at 60% ltv at 1.49 fee free where you can overpay 10% of the mtge amount per year without penalty. 3 yr is 1.69% and 5 yr is 1.84%

Whats the maximum age limit for tnis mortgage?

What ia the LTV please

Just to note that they have very low approval rate.
I bank with FD and have an excellent credit score but was rejected for a mortgage application.
I've been approved with every other bank I've approached since but for some unknown reason FD didn't want to know! Talking to a mortgage advisor, it's difficult to be approved by FD.

My wife wants a house that's 240k any suggestions on how I get the initial 96k needed for this deal? Currently 'change you wife' is in the lead

Thanks for your help, everyone

I've never had a Mortgage before, looking to get our first in the next couple of months...

At the end of the 10 years what happens? I presume I go to a standard variable rate? Am I then free to move to another Mortgage provider and not have to pay an early redemption fee of any sorts? Or am I tied to First Direct for the term of the mortgage (25y)

Thanks in advance!

Unlimited overpayments are the clincher for this one. Fantastic way to guarantee a great return on your money by saving thousands in interest and get yourself debt free far quicker.

3 mths before the mortgage term is up look for the next best deal and then arrange for it all to be swapped on the at the old one finishes
In no way are you tied in for 25 years

i signed up to this around April time . took a few months to arrange and have just paid my first payment and 119 to go :grin: ...... Their customer service is outstanding and very thorough as in they go into every bit of financial detail and every worse case scenario just to make sure you can afford the repayments .
The only thing i would Strongly recommend is NOT using their conveyancers ENACT ... i was told i would get charged approx £250 plus vat ( to take my wifes name off the deeds - Divorce) which was less than 50% cheaper than most solicitors BUT the stress these guys caused me and mistakes they made and dragged everything out cost me many £100s more with additional costs incurred... i would never ever use ENACT if they were FREE .... use your own solicitors to do the legal stuff ... loads safer and quicker !

How long will they hold the rate from date of application? Putting our house on the market next week!

Quite tempted to look into this a bit more.
Have 2 years left of a 5 year fix so I would pay nearly £2.5k penalty to leave now. However the rate is 0.5% cheaper than my existing which would mean £20 pm cheaper which results in £2k cheaper overall over the 10 year term.

Factor in that in 2 years time Brexit may mean the rates are doing funny things, and that over 10 years I may well have to pay 2 or 3 sets of arrangement fees, and this product could well be my best bet for the bank balance and stability.

good deal

Thank you Neil,

I have learned something today.

LTV?

Erc 3% in first year
2% after, calculated from original amount.