When does your current mortgage rate expire? With interest rates continuing to rise, many are concerned about their current mortgage rate soon coming to an end and being faced with a much higher rate moving forward.
With the cost-of-living crisis affecting people and businesses across the UK, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcing his Fiscal Statement, sterling volatility, and the ongoing market uncertainty, the mortgage market is not immune to the ongoing effects of current events. This week the mortgage market has seen changes in the products offered by lenders and increasing interest rates that economist fear will continue to rise.
UK Finance has reported that 600,000 fixed-rate deals will expire before 2022 ends, and so many homeowners are faced with the imminent challenge of increased mortgage payments to add to their current financial worries in an already difficult period.
However, you do not need to simply wait until the day your current mortgage rate expires and just accept these higher rates. There are ways in which you can act now to secure a current rate even if your mortgage rate is not set to expire in the immediate future.
Mortgage offers generally have around a six-month validity period in order for you to plan in advance of your current rate’s expiry date – however, this depends on the lender. Therefore, if you have six months or less left on your current mortgage rate, we can help you remortgage now. As interest rates continue to rise, and without knowing when these will fall again, this is a really popular request we are seeing from clients at the moment.
If you have more than six months left on your current rate, it may be worth considering taking the hit with Early Repayment Charges (ERC) now in order to secure a lower rate before your expiry date. An Early Repayment Charge tends to be a percentage of the outstanding balance on your mortgage, typically between 1 and 5%. However, although this does not sound very much in theory it can be, as 1% of £300,000 is £3,000. You will be able to find details of your own ERC in your mortgage offer or annual mortgage statement.
To discuss whether either of these routes to remortgage would be a viable option for you, please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our specialist mortgage advisers. Acting now could potentially save you from being hit with even higher rates further down the line. Call us on 01872 306411 and we can advise you based on your individual circumstances.