Mortgage

[Scarlett]

I pay �520 a month for �75,000 over 24 years. Do you think that sounds reasonable or should I look around for another mortgage?

[Bob04]

Looks reasonable. If you are not tied into your current mortgage you could shop around for a cheaper rate, at the moment there are many lenders offering a couple of % off for the first 12/24 months.

[vicars]

I would say you are paying over 6% which is high. get the lender to review your mortgage with them and find out if you have any penalties. If you are tied in then it is probably not worth tying yourself in. If you do not and want to move lender then you could save easily �80 per month keeping to 24 years repayment on �75,000. Lots of lenders have no fees for re-mortgages but the best rates tend to have some fees attached. However as I said you could find a fee free deal that will save you a lot per month. First step though is go to your existing lender to see what they will do. If you tell me your existing lender I can try to guide you a little more.

[vicars]

"If you are tied in then it is probably not worth tying yourself in." - sorry this should read "If you are tied in then it it is probably not worth paying the penalty charge" - (tired!).

[AliFlump]

Hi Scarlett, im paying �470 for �75000 over 24 years, i would contact an independent advisor to try and get it lowered

[chazza]

That sounds high - i have a mortgage of about the same amount and am paying �450 a month

[Hammer]

I pay �420 on �72k over 25 yrs.

[Scarlett]

Very interesting - thankyou everyone. I AM tied in actually, for another 2 years ( was 5 year deal) but my redemption penalty is only something like �1700 now. It was �3000 at the start.

Is it worth paying the redemption for a smaller monthly payment? Prob not?

[Scarlett]

p.s I am with the Teacher's Building Society.

[vicars]

If you redeemed now the penalty would equal �70 per month for the next 24 months. You could get a re-mortgage deal that saves you more than �70 (just) but the decider as to whether you move or not may be interst rates. Fixed rates are starting to move up again (despite variable rates coming down) so you may want to get a longer term fixed rate now rather than waiting for 2 years and miss some of the best rates in years. This would be a good reason to switch. However you may not be too concerned with getting a decent longer term fixed rate and so feel happy that taking into acount the penalty it would probably not be worth switching (unless you would be really please saving �10-15 per month (assuming you got a fee free re-mortgage deal).

[funnywebsite]

I saw this question on I think it was the BBC website or MSN about money and it suggested you move to another company even if you are tied in. Some companies actually pay your fee. Look around whats on offer. Read the BBC websites about money and MSN where you learn about these things.

[Bez]

You could try this website for a start and go to the Mortgages section.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/