Mortgage advice please

[alistair1234]

We are currently 4.25 years in to a 5 year fixed help to buy mortgage with Halifax. House was bought for £235k and will probably sell for £280k.

Help to buy will want £56k back and we owe £148k currently on mortgage which leaves £78k equity.

We're looking at houses around £350k, the existing Halifax mortgage has a 5% early redemption charge until next June when the fixed term ends, which we don't want to pay so we've been told we can port it across.

That means we would need to borrow an extra £126k. We thought this would also have to be with Halifax, but a friend advised it could be with anyone, as halfax don't seem to have as good rates as others at the moment.

2 questions, will any other banks pay our early redemption charge and take the whole mortgage?

If not, what is the best way of managing 2 mortgages? Do we take the extra £126k on a variable until next June and then re-mortgage the whole lot to get back to one, or do we just try and get the best we can now for the £126k and then do the same for the rest in June.

Are there any pro's and con's to either? The only thing i can think of at the moment is 2 mortgages = 2 product/booking fee's so slightly more expensive to manage, but they would be staggered so better to hedge against any sudden rate rises.

thanks

[Sarnie]

alistair1234 said:

We are currently 4.25 years in to a 5 year fixed help to buy mortgage with Halifax. House was bought for £235k and will probably sell for £280k.

Help to buy will want £56k back and we owe £148k currently on mortgage which leaves £78k equity.

We're looking at houses around £350k, the existing Halifax mortgage has a 5% early redemption charge until next June when the fixed term ends, which we don't want to pay so we've been told we can port it across.

That means we would need to borrow an extra £126k. We thought this would also have to be with Halifax, but a friend advised it could be with anyone, as halfax don't seem to have as good rates as others at the moment.

2 questions, will any other banks pay our early redemption charge and take the whole mortgage?

If not, what is the best way of managing 2 mortgages? Do we take the extra £126k on a variable until next June and then re-mortgage the whole lot to get back to one, or do we just try and get the best we can now for the £126k and then do the same for the rest in June.

Are there any pro's and con's to either? The only thing i can think of at the moment is 2 mortgages = 2 product/booking fee's so slightly more expensive to manage, but they would be staggered so better to hedge against any sudden rate rises.

thanks

Answers to your questions;

- No, if you port the mortgage, the further lending has to be with Halifax
- You are correct, Halifax's product transfer/further advance rates are poor, this is the price you pay of avoiding the ERC
- No other bank will pay your ERC
- The shortest fixed rate will be two years, so you will always have two accounts out of sync with each other
- You could take the further advance on the variable rate but it will be an expensive year with the further advance on 4%.....