[dave]

hear me now

I'm wanting yall to huck me some advice of a financial flava. We've nearly been in the crib for 2 years now, so the initial discount period on the old mortgage is about to be up, and obviously we're on about switiching and shit to get a better deal, innit. So has any of the UKB peeps recently had any mortgage flava, or anyone got a handle on whats the best beta right now word?

check yo'self.

[Bubba]

Get yourself a financial advisor - we've used Paul Archer at Whitehall and he's a very nice bloke.

[Bonjoy]

Bugger that dog! Sell the property, get all you and the missus' money out the bank and fly off to vegas. Get yourselves all mashed up on goofballs and have a balls out gambling spree. When all the money's been blown, run off into the desert in search of Sharma. That's what i'd do.






Sorry. I've installed an animation package at work and can't help myself :roll:

[Big Frank]

Best deals I've found recently are with Northern Rock.

[dave]

to be a bit mo specific i was finking about wether the currect flava is towards the discounted ones, or is everyone going fo fixed, or do i get one capped like an NBA salary?

[RopeBoy]

We did it recently.

One thing to keep an eye on is hidden costs and any penalty clauses. Hidden costs like solicitors fees etc and penalties from changing your lender etc.

If you get good advice from an independant financial advisor who can check out all the best deals not just the ones that they're tied to you should be okay.

I've used FACTS Knowles Warwick who are based in Ranmoor for many years. They're quite good, every year they have a look at my financial stuff and find me ways of saving money or improve my savings, which is just as well cause I'm useless when it comes to money. :shock:

J

[Falling Down]

to be a bit mo specific i was finking about wether the currect flava is towards the discounted ones, or is everyone going fo fixed, or do i get one capped like an NBA salary?

I moved to a plush new (old) manshion in the country about 8 weeks ago and have taken on a fairly big loan.  For peace of mind I took out a ten year fixed-rate at 5.99 (with an overpayment facilityof 10% per annum ) just so I know how much I'm going to be laying out each month for the next decade.

Like the Bubba said, I would talk with an advisor as it depends what you need - with the dip in lending, I would guess that you could probably wangle a good deal at the moment.

On another note, if anyone knows anyone who wants a lovely two bedroom house (with a loft conversion) in Buxworth (nr Chinley) I have one for sale..

[dave]

word - so what the damage generally for getting the 9-11 from one of these financial advisor homies then? i presume they don't give you advice for jack.

[Sloper]

Try The Nottingham Bld Soc, when we mved last August they were well ahead of the pack (+no nasty hidden charges) if you have >30% equity you'll get a cracking deal.

[Bubba]

word - so what the damage generally for getting the 9-11 from one of these financial advisor homies then? i presume they don't give you advice for jack.

They get commission on the deal when it goes through - there's no charges before that as far as I recall. They also have to tell you the amount of commission they are getting so you can sniff out if they're purely just lining their own pockets, or are actually trying to find you the best deal.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

The Guardian has quick a good search site. http://www.moneysupermarket.com/Mortgagesp/mortgagesstep1.asp
We recently remortgaged to Hinckley & Rugby, http://www.hrbs.co.uk which regularly tops the newspapers best buy recommmendations. They had lots of features like not fees if you move your mortgage again. They are tiny and really helpful. You phone them up, speak to a REAL person who walks over the a filing cabinet and gets YOUR file in person. A refreshing change from the WOOLSHIte.

[dave]

word - so what the damage generally for getting the 9-11 from one of these financial advisor homies then? i presume they don't give you advice for jack.

They get commission on the deal when it goes through - there's no charges before that as far as I recall. They also have to tell you the amount of commission they are getting so you can sniff out if they're purely just lining their own pockets, or are actually trying to find you the best deal.

ah right, so they get a cut from whatever bank/bildSoc/etc you end up with then? word.

[Bubba]

Yeah, that's it.

[tommytwotone]

word - so what the damage generally for getting the 9-11 from one of these financial advisor homies then? i presume they don't give you advice for jack.

They get commission on the deal when it goes through - there's no charges before that as far as I recall. They also have to tell you the amount of commission they are getting so you can sniff out if they're purely just lining their own pockets, or are actually trying to find you the best deal.

ah right, so they get a cut from whatever bank etc you end up with then? word.

Alright, here's my two cents like Ken Brockman. Health Warning - I worked for a leading online bank for 5 years and although I'm a fully qualified financial advisor I have never and don't currently do it for a living.

Bubba's basically got it - some are 'tied agents' and therefore will only recommend from a limited list of providers / products (from whom they'll receive $$$), others are not tied and can therefore recommend (arguabely more impartially) from the whole marketplace.

Obviously the second type of advisor ain't gonna be doing his ting for free, so you'll pay him separate.

Bear in mind that you might have a one-man operation that you would assume to be independant (as you're not going into the bank to see him), but he might be only recommending say, 2 or 3 providers' products (note the cultured use of the "possessive plural apostrophe" there, grammar fans  :wink: ).

Guess it comes down to how you wanna pay for your advice (up front or commission), and how 'independant' the advice you'll get will be as a result.

Another thing to consider is that while the FSA bought in loads of lovely, fluffy new guidelines on Halloween '04 aimed at making the whole process more transparent for consumers, they don't have to apply to remortgages so watch your bad self.

Feel free to consider/ignore the above as much as you like - PM me if you wanna ask owt.

[Jim]

my advice is - don't get capped, discount or fixed. read the papers make up your on mind on which company to use. If ya got saving get an all-in-one account. We saved about £400 last year.
Lovejoy's got the right idea but you should give all proceeds from your house sale to Jims bouldering world tour fund!
shamone

[tommytwotone]

word.

Offsetting is something that plenty of places will do - basically taking any money you've got saved off your outstanding mortgage amount and only charging you interest on that.

Only downsides are that it's only really worth it if you've got a fair amount saved up, plus they won't pay you any interest on the savings you're using to offset.

Guess if getting your mortgage down is more important than building your savings it's worth considering.

[Jim]

yes but the intrest you save on your morgage is a lot more than the intrest you will get paid on savings

[Johnny Brown]

No flies on Jim.

[tommytwotone]

damn straight Jim. I think they're a proper bo idea.

Just think that psychologically some people either want to feel like they're getting something out of their bank, are resigned to paying a mortgage until they're v old or both.

Only downside would be if you suddenly needed to access your savings for an emergency, but in that circumstance I guess saving a few quid on your mortgage would be the least of your worries.

that said, you could argue that you could save more by always making sure your savings are in the highest rated a/cs (considering 6% is pretty gettable at the mo) and the opposite for your mortgage, but the effort involved in chasing the best deals would be a pain the backside to say the least.

Think the best thing you can do when looking for a new mortgage is make sure that whatever you get, you minimise the cost of taking it out and those you might incur if you want to move it again.

oh yeah, and have you ever considered an endowment?  :wink:

[dave]

I'm already well endowed thanks very much.

[tommytwotone]

boom...tish!

 

[clm]

NORTHERN ROCK FUCKED ME OVER!!!! SO I HAVE VOWED TO GIVE THEM THE POOREST PUBLICITY POSSIBLE.  EACH PERSON I DISSUADE WILL COST THEM THOUSANDS.
1.  they had to redo my mortgage offer 5 times = delays
2.  they finally did mortgage offer but on wrong adress = delays
3.  when changing adress they witheld approval on mt mortgage insisting on several inspectins...two weeks after i had had the initial survey done and had all inspections recommended carried out (on the correct house) = delays. a quik call got them to say oops...we fucked up.
4.  all these dalays got me to the point of my vendor saying sort it or i pull out - i would have lost about 1500 quid.
5.  i was goven a completion date by my solicitor who was in liason with northern rock on a friday... i booked a van.
6.  no completion on friday.  they said that their valuers had to approve a document about the extension and that they were not answering the phone.  this was despite me, my solicitor and the mortgage adviser phoning every ten minutes.  brick wall call centre people got none of us nowhere.  they refused to tell me who the valuers were so i could try to phone them.
7 my mortgage adviser used what none in the norhthern rock establishment has...initiative.  on a hunch checked some paperwork and found out that the valluers they used were those of my own mortgage advice company.  he sorted the document ina 5 min phone call.
8.  guess what....it was too late in the day to release the money...icould not complete thanks to northern rocks failures.
9.  i had to plead with my land lady to stay a couple of extra days and leave a stack of mt posessions in a tranny van.  i had just collected them from a relatives house and there was no way i was carrying them up three flights to my flat.
10.  heres me with  the monday booked off work so i could have all weekend to move and a day sort out.  they did not then release the money till 2pm on monday despite primisimg that i was a priority.
i did not get the keys till 5.30 and did not get the van back till midnight.

that feel much better.  i hope its not libellous.  its all true anyway.