
10 ways to maximise your mortgage chances
Here are 10 top tips to help improve your likelihood of being accepted for a competitive mortgage deal
Switching mortgage lenders is also known as remortgaging, and it's quite a simple process
A mortgage is almost certainly the biggest loan you’ll ever take out in your life, which makes the rate of interest you pay on it of crucial importance. In some cases, it could make the difference of thousands of pounds a year.
Ensuring you are on the lowest mortgage rate possible for your circumstances almost always involves switching mortgages – and in many cases lenders too.
Here’s what you need to know about switching mortgage providers.
Switching lenders – for example, from Santander to HSBC, or from Barclays to Leeds Building Society – is officially known as remortgaging.
This is not to be confused with a ‘product transfer’ which refers to staying with your existing lender and switching mortgage deals.
In either case, if you want to top up your loan during the process of switching mortgages, you’ll need to apply for a ‘further advance’.
To avoid paying your lender’s standard variable rate (SVR), you should aim to switch mortgage provider – or even just mortgage deals – as soon as your current offer ends.
This is likely to be either two or five (or in some cases, 10) years from its start date.
The standard variable rate is a lender’s own central rate of interest. It is usually considerably more expensive than any new mortgage deal, either from that lender or any one of its competitors.
However, as SVRs do not come with tie-ins, you will be free to leave the deal at any time penalty-free.
You can usually apply for a new mortgage up to six months in advance from the date you need it to take effect.
Once the offer has been issued it will come with a completion deadline. These vary but the maximum will be six months.
The digital age has made the process of switching mortgages more seamless than ever. But it still pays to get virtual paperwork organised in advance – for example, bank statements, payslips, scans of your passport and employment contracts.
For your partner too if you are buying together.
It’s also a good idea to check your credit score before you apply to switch mortgage providers. This will give you a chance to rectify any potentially nasty surprises ahead of the new mortgage provider’s search of your report.
Here’s what to expect from the process of switching your mortgage from one provider to another:
When you remortgage to a different lender, your affordability for the loan will be assessed from scratch, in addition to the standard credit and ID checks being carried out.
If your circumstances or income/outgoings have changed since when you qualified for your current mortgage – for example, you’ve been furloughed, become self-employed or had a child – your application may not stack up with a new lender.
In this case, your best bet is to find out what your current lender can offer – so long as you have built up a history of reliable payments, affordability checks can be less rigorous.
It’s likely that any deal your current lender can offer you will be cheaper than dropping onto its SVR.
If your mortgage is very small and you want to retain flexibility, say to pay it off early, it could make sense to stick with your current mortgage provider, even it means paying its SVR.
This is because the higher interest rate will have less of an impact on your monthly repayments and SVR mortgages do not come with tie-ins, so you are free to redeem it at any time penalty-free.
There is a fair amount of paperwork involved in switching mortgage lenders – although much is now digital – but it’s usually more than worth it for the money you save in interest.
If you use a mortgage broker, such as our partners London & Country or Fluent, much of the legwork is carried out for you.
If you’re looking to switch mortgage provider, comparing remortgage deals with MoneySuperMarket is a good place to start.
All you need to do is provide us with a few details about yourself, your home and your current deal, and we’ll show you what’s out there.
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