| | | - Martin warns market reaction to Trump's victory is boosting rates
- Yet right now rates are rock-bottom, with one 2yr fix at BELOW 1%
- Huge remortgage savings reported: 'I'LL SAVE £20k SWITCHING'
If you take a historic view, mortgage deals aren't just cheap right now, they're miles below the cheapest. But according to MSE founder Martin Lewis that may be about to change... "This is a clarion call to everyone with a mortgage. Check NOW if you're on the cheapest deal you can get. It's possible we are at the bottom of the mortgage rate curve. When UK base rates were cut from 0.5% to 0.25% in August, the thought was they may drop again. But the economy's stabilised so the Bank of England's now indicating that's less likely.
"Plus, Donald Trump's victory has seen a jump in the City's long-term interest rates which the price of fixed-rate mortgages are based on. So there is a chance we'll see fixed costs start to rise. While this is far from certain, rates are so cheap, even if they did drop, my guess is the gain would be limited - yet if they go the other way, the cost could be huge. So if you want safety, checking now is sensible." And doing this can have a big impact. Craig tweeted: "@MartinSLewis. Prompted by your email to remortgage. Saving £2,400 over 2 yrs and no fees." And Kperat emailed: "Following your email we did some research, fixed at 1.24% for 2 yrs, reduced term to 13 yrs without paying much more a month. Will be saving about £20,000 even after fees. Thanks." Here's our guide to getting the best deal for you... | 1. | What you need to know about your current deal. To see if you can remortgage (switch mortgage to save), you need the following...
a) What's the rate? And monthly repayment & debt outstanding.
b) What type is it? Fix, tracker, discount or standard variable rate (SVR)?
c) When's the intro deal over? Eg, when does the 2yr fix end?
d) How long is the mortgage term? Eg, 25yrs, and when it must be fully repaid by.
e) Will I be penalised? Are there early-repayment or exit penalties?
Crucially find your CURRENT loan-to-value (LTV) - the proportion of your property's value you're borrowing: £80k on a £100k property is 80% LTV. For each 5% lower your LTV, usually until 60%, the cheaper the deal. So if your home's increased in value since you got your mortgage, you may gain. See LTV help for full info. | | | | | 2. | Speedily dig out your top deal with a mortgage comparison. Rates may be at rock-bottom, but many factors affect what's YOUR best.
Take HSBC's 0.99% 2yr fix which is the cheapest ever fixed rate. Yet it's not for all as you need a top credit score, there's a £1,499 fee, and you can't borrow more than 65% of your home's value. Nevertheless it highlights just how competitive the market is.
So bash all your info into our comparison tool to get a benchmark for your top deal, then read on.
Mortgage Best Buys
Remortgaging Best-Buy Comparison Tool
(Alternatively, see our First-Time Buyers or Moving Home tools)
Typical current top deals on A £150k mortgage
Links take you to our Mortgage Best-Buy tool | | | | Deal | Rate + Fee | Cost/yr in deal term (incl application fee) (1) | | Typical SVR rate | 4% | £9,500 | | Fix 2yr at 65% LTV | 0.99% + £1,499 | £7,600 | | Fix 2yr at 90% LTV | 1.94% + £1,649 | £8,240 | | Fix 5yr at 65% LTV | 1.9% + £999 | £7,810 | | Fix 5yr at 90% LTV | 2.54% + £999 | £8,320 | | Tracker 2yr at 60% LTV | 1.24% + £995 | £7,390 | | Tracker 2yr at 90% LTV | 2.29% + £999 | £8,270 | | (1) Fee combined with loan, assumes 25yr term. | | | | | 3. | BIG savings are possible if you're on your lender's standard variable rate (SVR). This is the rate most fixes and trackers revert to when the intro deal ends. They're often pricey.
To show you the sheer scale of savings, here are some major lenders' current SVRs (some have cheaper versions for older customers), which now average about 4% (see SVR Help for more):
Barclays 3.74% | Coventry BS 4.49% | HSBC 3.69%
Lloyds & Halifax 3.74% | Nationwide 3.74%
RBS & NatWest 3.75% | Santander 4.49% | Virgin Money 4.54%
Yorkshire BS 4.74%
Now compare those with rates above and apply this: Every 1 %-point mortgage-cut saves roughly £80/mth per £100,000 of mortgage.
Eg, someone moving a £150,000 mortgage from 4% SVR to a 2yr fix at 0.99% will save £4k+ over 2yrs even after fees. | | | | 4. |  Get our FREE 60-page Remortgaging Booklet. Your mortgage is likely your biggest expenditure, and just because you've done it once, doesn't mean it's the same this time around. So be sure you know what you're doing. Our guide takes you through it step-by-step. Jennifer tweeted: "Read your guide and agreed a new mortgage deal, saving about £200/mth. Delighted."
- Remortgage Booklet 2016: Download instant PDF | Order printed
- Remortgage-help 5-min video: Sometimes it's easier to watch than read. See the short remortgage help video. | | | | | 5. | Remember you've fees to pay - use our free tool to factor 'em in... If you've a small mortgage (especially sub-£100k), the bigger the impact of valuation, legal and other fees. It's vital to factor these in over the period of your deal to work out the true cost for comparison. Our MSE Total Cost Assessment in our best-buys comparison factors in fee and rate for your cheapest deal. | | | | 6. | Join our FREE Credit Club to interrogate what lenders really think of you. Your credit history is a huge part of whether you'll be accepted for any type of credit, incl mortgages. We launched the revolutionary, totally free MSE Credit Club in September to try to demystify the acceptance process and uncover the true picture of your overall financial appeal for all manner of products.
It includes a free Experian Credit Score. But lenders don't stop there - and we wanted to mimic what they do more closely, so we don't stop there either. It also includes your unique Affordability Score, Credit Hit Rate and how to boost your score. | | | | | 7. | Don't think just because you can afford monthly payments, you'll pass affordability tests. For the past two and a half years, lenders have had to stress-test if your mortgage would be affordable if rates hit 6-7%. You may have escaped this when you first got a mortgage - but now they want evidence of income, big bills, expenses, even eating out. So being frugal in advance helps.
While we're fans of 'affordability checks' - they make sure you don't push your finances beyond the limit - they're not logical for many remortgages, and ridiculously, people are being told they can't afford a CHEAPER deal. We've had tweets such as: "Circs hadn't changed. No missed payments. No debts bar new cars. £90k equity. Yet no one'd give us a mortgage."
These rules stem from the EU Mortgage Credit Directive and regulator the Financial Conduct Authority's interpretation of it. While Brexit means this may eventually change, many are caught NOW.
We're campaigning and have called for an urgent review of the UK's interpretation of the rules as part of next week's Autumn Statement so people are no longer told they can't afford a cheaper deal. We've already had some success - see Mortgage Prisoner Result. Please email us if you've tried to remortgage and ended up trapped. | | | | | 8. | Should I go for a fix or tracker/discount? With a fix, the amount you repay is, er, fixed - it provides certainty against possible rate rises. Variable deals move with UK interest rates or sometimes just at a provider's whim. Generally you'll only pay a touch more to fix.
We can't predict future interest rates, so focus on your finances - the more crucial the surety of knowing the cost, or the more worried you are by uncertainty, the more you should hedge towards fixing - and fixing longer. If a rock-bottom deal's your focus, hedge towards short-term trackers. See Fix vs Variable help. | | | | 9. | With rates so low and the threat of hikes, should you ditch your fix? Use our Ditch your fix? tool to check if you can save by switching from a pricey fix. It won't work for all due to exorbitant early-repayment fees but why not check, just in case?
Eg, if you've a 3.49% fix with 23mths left on a £100,000 mortgage, you could save if you can switch to anything better than a 1.51% fix with a £1,000 arrangement fee, even taking into account £2,800ish extra switching fees (incl early exit charge, legal & valuation fees). | | | | | 10. | Calcs galore to test your options. Now you know typical rates, use our mortgage calcs to compare 'em and see what you could save:
Ultimate Mortgage Calculator
Eight tools to home in on the right answer for you, incl...
Basic Mortgage Calc | Compare Two Mortgages | Mortgage Overpay Calc | Compare Fixed Mortgages | Ditch Your Current Fix? | | | | | 11. | Savings stashed away? Use 'em to bag a better mortgage. The lower your LTV threshold, the better the deal you can get. They drop in 5% chunks from 95% to 60%, so use some savings to get you into a lower threshold and you can save big. For example...
If you've a £150,000 home, and want a £137,000 remortgage, that's 91% LTV, and the top 5yr fix is 3.98%. Yet use £2,000 of savings to reduce the borrowing, & you'd be at 90% LTV - where the top 5yr fix is 2.54%, saving c. £1,130/year in payments.
See Should I overpay my mortgage? for more and use the Mortgage Overpayment Calc to see how much regular overpayments can help. | | | | 12. | Get a leg up from a mortgage broker. You can, and often should, use a broker to help find the right deal. They've info unavailable to consumers, eg, lenders' credit and affordability criteria. A good broker can ease acceptance by matching you to the right deal - and the application process is quicker. See Top Mortgage Brokers. | | | | | 13. | Yet brokers can miss some mortgages... A few lenders, incl First Direct and Yorkshire Bank, cut brokers out and sell only directly to the public. So some brokers can and do exclude them - we suggest you use a broker in conjunction with our mortgage comparison, which has all these deals. | |
The Martin Lewis Money Show is back & it's LIVE on ITV at 8pm, Tue 22 Nov
Save £100s before the energy bill crisis hits, top kids' savings, the festive forecaster and more Over to Martin... "I can't believe it's series 6, and for the first time we're going to launch it live with a 1hr special, letting you get in touch and ask questions as we go. To be fair, I'm nervous, I think I shall wear brown trousers for it. Then after the opener it'll be half an hour every Monday. Do watch, or set the Betamax." | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Save big by finding out when bargains are expected to happen, eg, Soap & Glory bundle, 20% Selfridges code
Put away your crystal ball - because our Christmas Deals Predictor is back. It estimates the exact week and saving on 60+ deals we think are coming from retailers such as Amazon, Asos, Boots & M&S. So if you're prepared to take a gamble (with pretty good odds) then diarise the date for the deal you want. But don't fall for the hype - only buy what you need and can afford. -
 Last year we got it 90% right. Our elves at MSE Towers have been tracking and analysing retailers' deals for the last 6 years. Last year a whopping 84% of deals came out exactly as we predicted. Add in those we were only marginally out on and we had an astonishing 90% success rate.
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When is Soap & Glory and the rest coming this year? There are 60+ predictions in the 2016 Deals Predictor. They include: half-price Soap & Glory gift set | Selfridges 20% code | £9 champers | '£5' Ikea Xmas trees | pre-Xmas discounted cards & decorations. -
One prediction we know is certain - 'Black Friday' deals will happen. Some of the biggies have already begun incl Amazon 'up to 50% off' and Argos's 13 days of deals. See our continually updated Black Friday 2016 Deals page for full info. What's Black Friday? It used to be full of hard-to-get deals that caused chaos in stores. Now they're often just regular but less-deep discounts rebranded for Black Friday. | | | | | FLASH Disney 24% off toys & costumes code. Wed only, incl sale. Full info: Disney.
'Posh' bedding code. Eg, £11 winter double duvet. MSE Blagged. Department store supplier flogs excess stock at up to 75% off high st prices... our code gets further 25% off the already reduced outlet price. £3 deliv. Ends Sun. You snooze, you lose
Free Santa letters (incl in Braille). Direct from his grotto at the North Pole, obvs. Stamp needed. Free Santa letters
1 wk only: Nectar double-up in Sainsbury's, incl toys, clothes & electricals. From today (Wed) till next Tue, each 1,000 pts (norm £5) will be worth £10 in some departments. Full analysis: Nectar x2.
£40 off Christmas free-range bronze turkey & meat bundle via code (feeds 10-12). MSE Blagged. 2,500 to gobble up. £55, norm £95. Incl chipolatas, sausage meat, bacon & goose fat. Deliv 21- 23 Dec - you choose. Market Porter
Will MSE do another Big Energy Switch in 2016? Many of you are wondering, especially as prices are rising rapidly. We're asking providers to bid, but it's touch and go if these will beat the market cheapest. We'll let you know next week. Yet if you're ready to switch, don't hold off, do a Cheap Energy Club quick comparison now. | | | | | | | | | | | Competition gets hotter as the cheapest gets cheaper - use our eligibility calc to find the best for you
Getting the best loan rate can save you hundreds of pounds. The cheapest is now just 3% - meaning if you borrowed £7,500 at that rate over three years it'd cost £350 in interest. Yet borrowing the same amount on Barclays' 4.9% loan rate would add an EXTRA £220. But beware: debt's like fire - a great tool, yet use it badly and you get burnt. So if you need a loan, ensure it's planned, budgeted for and affordable. Full info in Cheap Loans, but briefly... -
 Lowest rates from £1,000-£15,000. You're credit-checked when applying, so best practice is to use our free Loans Quick Eligibility Calc or our FULL Credit Club Loans Eligibility Calc, where you also get a free Credit & Affordability Score. These will tell you which loans you've best chance of getting without hitting your credit score. All are for 1-5yrs' borrowing, unless stated.
- £7.5k-£15,000: New. Sainsbury's* (over 1-3yrs, needs Nectar card) is 3% rep APR. Next is Ratesetter* at 3.1% rep APR (2-5yrs).
- £5k-£7,499: M&S Bank* (1-7yrs) and Cahoot* are 3.8% rep APR.
- £3k-£4,999: Zopa's* 4.6%-6.9% rep APR, Ikano* 5.2% rep APR.
- £2k-£2,999: Zopa's* 6.9%-7.9% rep APR, Ikano* 7.9% rep APR (yet credit card loans are often cheaper).
- £1k-£1,999: Zopa* is 9.9% rep APR (2-5 yrs), Ikano* 11.9% rep APR (credit card loans are often cheaper).
PS: Ikano isn't on our eligibility calc yet. -
Be warned. All personal loans are 'representative APR'. That means, sadly, the advertised rate needs to be given to ONLY 51% of those accepted. Anecdotally, the higher your eligibility chance, the more likely you are to get the advertised rate. -
Tricks to beat the cheapest. Nationwide will beat the rate you get from any bank/building soc (not peer-to-peer lenders, eg, Zopa) by 0.5 percentage points if you've already got, or get accepted for, any of its current accounts. New. AA* offers free MOTs at participating garages with its 3.6% rep APR loan for £7.5-15k. It isn't the cheapest but we estimate the MOTs are worth £35-£55/yr, so could win overall. Spa day/hotel stay also avail. -
The Loan Golden Rules.
a) Only borrow for planned, budgeted-for spending (eg, car); minimise the amount & repay as quickly as you can.
b) Pay on time or you may get a charge & a credit black-mark (set up a direct debit so you never miss paying).
c) If you're applying to pay off credit cards, a balance transfer may be cheaper. | | | | | | | | | They can get this email free every week | | | | | | | | | Buildings and contents costs are soaring and many vastly overpay by auto-renewing - fight back with our system
We've been banging on for years that you should use price comparison sites to bag the top deals. We know many of you do - but don't stop there. There are further offers these sites don't show, which we list to give you every trick in the book to keep costs in check. That message is even more pertinent as latest figures from the AA show a 14% hike in buildings insurance cover prices over the past year, 8% on contents. Full info in our Cheap Home Insurance guide, here are its foundations... -
 NEVER just auto-renew. Combine comparison sites to get 100s of quotes in minutes. These don't search identical insurers, nor give identical prices - so use a mix. Our current order's Confused.com*, CTM, Gocompare*, MoneySup* (see full order & why).
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Then check if HOT deals beat them, eg £50 Amazon/food voucher. Comparisons are great but they don't list every insurer or deal. These are the top deals missed:
- £50 Amazon, HofF, Debenhams or Ticketmaster vch: Via this MSE Blagged Direct Line* link, till 30 Nov.
- Last chance. £50 Co-op food voucher: With cover direct from Co-op* till Fri.
- Also, as well as Direct Line*, biggie Aviva* is NOT on comparison sites so check it too.
Freebies or vouchers are on combined building & contents cover only & can take up to 120 days from the policy start date to arrive. -
Know the correct amount to cover. a) BUILDINGS - usually only needed by freeholders as it covers the structure. Many wrongly insure their home's market value. Instead use a rebuild calc to see the cost of rebuilding if it were knocked down. b) CONTENTS - for all. Don't under-insure, thinking you'll never claim the full amount - if you cover £10k, have £20k of stuff & your £1,000 TV smashes, you may only get £500. Use a contents calc to check you're properly covered. | | | | | Totally FREE New Covent Garden Soup (norm £2ish). See our Deals Hunters' blog for this soup-er deals-stack.
£50 Champneys spa treatment set £25. Boots 'Star Gift' from Thu, incl bubble bath, body/hand lotion, nail polish etc. Or men's set £20 (was £40). Champneys
SUCCESS OF THE WEEK: (Send us yours on this or any topic)
"My flight from Gatwick to LA was delayed by 4+ hours. Norwegian refused compensation but after reading your Flight Delay Reclaim tips we contacted the Civil Aviation Authority, which ruled in our favour. This week Norwegian paid us more than £1,050. Astonishing result."
Berry plant bundle £10 all-in (next cheapest £35 + deliv). MSE Blagged. Incl raspberry, blackberry, loganberry, gooseberry & redcurrant. 1k avail. Berry good | | | | | | Have you haggled with Sky, BT, the AA and more this year? Did you succeed? We've selected 59 major providers of digital TV, broadband, credit cards, breakdown cover, insurance and more. We want to know where you've tried to haggle in the last year and how big your success has been: - - TV/broadband/home phone providers, eg, EE, Sky
- - Mobile phone providers, eg, O2, Three
- - Breakdown cover providers, eg, AA, RAC
- - Insurance providers, eg, Axa, Esure
- - Banks/card providers, eg, HSBC, Lloyds
- - I haven't haggled with any provider in the last year
Can you DIY? Last week's poll asked what life-skills you felt competent at. For most age and gender categories the most common life-skill you felt least competent at was putting wallpaper up neatly, while most of you felt able to read your energy meter. See how you compare in the full DIY poll results here. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Thu 17 Nov - Good Morning Britain, ITV, Deals of the Week, 7.40am. View previous
Thu 17 Nov - The Apprentice: You're Fired, BBC, 10pm
Fri 18 Nov - This Morning, ITV, Martin's Quick Deals, from 10.30am. View previous
Mon 21 Nov - This Morning, ITV, from 10.30am
Mon 21 Nov - BBC Radio 5 Live, Lunch Money Martin, noon. Subscribe to podcast
Tue 22 Nov - The Martin Lewis Money Show, ITV, 8pm | | | | Wed 16 Nov - Share Radio, 11.20am
Wed 16 Nov - BBC Radio Cumbria, 'Money Talks', from 6pm
Wed 16 Nov - BBC Asian Network, noon
Thu 17 Nov - BBC Radio Tees, 10.35am
Fri 18 Nov - BBC South West stations, breakfast
Tue 22 Nov - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, 2.20pm
| | | | | | | Q. Fifteen years ago when I got my mortgage, I was told I had to have critical illness cover - even though I was a healthy non-smoking 41-year-old. I never claimed it. Can I claim it back: is it PPI or not? Anne, by email Martin's A: I wanted to answer this myself, as frankly I'm fishing to see how widespread an issue critical illness mis-selling may be. While PPI only covers the cost of repaying your loans if you're ill, critical illness means if you're diagnosed with a severe condition specified on the provider's list, it'll give you a set lump-sum payout of tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. The two are totally different policies. Just because it's not PPI, though, doesn't mean all critical illness policies are correctly sold. If your mortgage lender told you or implied "you have to get critical illness and it must be from us" that's certainly out of order. But it is allowed to tell you "a condition of you getting this mortgage is that you have a critical illness policy in place - so we know you'll be able to repay if you get ill". If you think you were mis-sold - because you were forced to get its policy (or its policy wasn't suitable for you as you already had cover elsewhere), you can still complain. First you must formally complain to the company - use the Resolver tool for help to do this - then if rejected (as is likely), push on and take it to the free Financial Ombudsman Service. If you think this has happened to you and you're taking a complaint forward, I'd love to hear via the critical illness mis-selling forum discussion, and keep us in touch with how your complaint goes. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). | | | | | | | That's it for this week, but before we go, check out this thread on our Facebook page: #ToBuyOrNotToBuy. We asked 'What's your biggest purchase regret?' There were lots of juicers, bread makers, slow cookers, plus the fault-ridden car, and even an engagement ring... ouch. We hope you save some money,
The MSE team | | | | | | |
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