Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

What Is A Mortgage Product Switch?

When your current mortgage product comes to an end it is vital that you reassess to make sure that you aren’t paying too much for your mortgage, this is called ‘remortgaging’. A ‘Product Switch’, sometimes referred to as a ‘Product Transfer’, is where you change to another deal with your existing lender. It is great that most lenders will offer this, but it isn’t always the most cost-effective thing to do.

You can look at it like car insurance in a way. When your year of insurance is up, you will be offered a renewal from your existing provider, but this is usually more expensive than if you were to look elsewhere.

When approached by clients that are coming to the end of their current deal we will assess their needs and then research the market to see what’s available for them. Once we have a suitable recommendation, we will then compare this to your existing lender to see what they are offering. Unfortunately, some times the rate you are offered from your lender isn’t always as good as the rates they are offering to new customers (don’t you just hate that!) so it’s important to compare to the correct range of products.

Another factor when deciding whether it’s best to remortgage to a new lender or switch products with your current lender is time. Although we contact and encourage our clients to look into remortgaging 6 months before the end of their current rate, not everyone does this. A lot of the new clients we are approached by, have a couple of weeks left before their deal comes to an end and they need to act quickly. Product Switching is normally much quicker than changing lender.

Recent Client Scenario

Alice approached us on the 12th of the month saying that her existing rate was expiring at the end of the month. This didn’t leave her a lot of time to assess her options, especially as she worked a full-time job and had two children. She had approached her existing lender but was told that it was a 3 week wait to see a branch mortgage adviser, which was too late.

We arranged to meet Alice at her work on her lunch break and discussed her options. She was looking to do a ‘like for like’ remortgage and just wanted the best deal. We went away and assessed the market and then approached her existing lender.

Solution

Alice’s existing lender wasn’t the cheapest option, but they were still very competitive. The best and most suitable mortgage for Alice was with a new lender but due to their current processing times, it would take 4 weeks at least for her to complete on this deal. This meant that her next mortgage payment would be nearly £420 more as she would move to the standard variable rate.

The best rate in the market was at 1.15% and would cost £736 per month.

The best rate from her existing lender was 1.29% and would cost £451 per month.

Even though her existing lender was £25 more per month for the next 2 years, Alice could switch before the end of the month meaning that she wouldn’t pay the extra £420 by moving to the Standard Variable rate. Therefore savings her £180 overall.

Better yet, by using us we could arrange the deal with her existing lender quicker than she could even get an appointment with them.

Next Steps

With so many options available when it comes to remortgaging or staying with the same lender, we’d be happy to talk to see if we can help save you the most money. Give us a call on 01174 520 330. Our initial conversations usually last around 15 minutes.

Alternatively, you can email enquiry@lloydwellsmortgages.co.uk and let us know how we can help you.

We will discuss:

  • How much you can borrow
  • What that will cost
  • What fees can you expect
  • How Lloyd Wells Mortgages work
  • What insurances you will need
  • What documentation you will need to provide
  • Next steps

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage