Remortgaging

A lot of people who currently have a mortgage look at remortgage rates as a potential way to save cash, reduce payments or increase borrowing for home improvements and other reasons.

There are a lot of companies that specialise in remortgaging and will not accept first time buyers. As a remortgager, you have a mortgage history to back up your application.

Whilst moving mortgage can increase borrowing or reduce costs, frequent moving might alert lenders to your status as a 'rate tart' - whereby you have been noticed as moving between mortgages every time the offer rate ends. Some lenders might be slightly more reluctant to lend to you.

Discounted Rate Mortgages

If you are looking for a mortgage that is a little below the standard variable rate then a Discounted Rate Mortgage might be what you need.

For typical terms of 1 year to 3 years, you can be receiving a discount off the bank's standard variable rate. But, if you repay early you might have to pay an early repayment fee, which might mean being stuck in the bank's standard variable rate for a few years.

Fixed Rate Mortgages

With a fixed rate mortgage deal, you agree with the lender that for a certain period the interest rate charged on the mortgage will not change. This fixed period may be a year, 2 years, 3 years or any time span that the lender offers to you.

In most cases the fixed period starts not when you complete the mortgage but when the lender first advertises the mortgage. Therefore, if the mortgage is advertised for several months, then your fixed rate period could be reduced by a few months.

Once the offer period is over, depending on the original terms of the offer you might have to pay the lender's variable rate for a certain amount of time or you may be free to switch to another product by that lender or you may be able to pay off the mortgage entirely.