Remortgaging

Remortgaging means moving your mortgage onto a new deal, typically with a different lender. It’s an opportunity to secure a more competitive interest rate, reduce your monthly repayments, release cash from your home, or change the terms of your mortgage to suit your current circumstances. 

In reality, yes, you can. But the most common time to do it is when your existing mortgage deal is coming to an end. Switching to another deal means you avoid moving on to your lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR), which will likely be higher and mean your repayments will jump up. 

You can still switch before the term of your existing mortgage deal ends, but this could mean paying an early repayment charge (ERC). If the ERC is higher than the savings you’ll make by moving on to another deal, it doesn’t make financial sense to go ahead. 

A standard remortgage should take somewhere between 4 to 8 weeks to fully complete. If you're just moving from one deal to another with your existing mortgage lender (known as a Product Transfer), this can usually be done much sooner. 

More complex remortgage applications, such as wanting to borrow more money (releasing equity), could take up to 8 weeks or possibly longer, depending on the work needed to complete everything. 

The equity in your home - the difference between the property’s value and outstanding mortgage balance - is what mortgage lenders will look to use as a deposit for a remortgage. 

So, for example, if your property’s worth £300,000 and your mortgage balance is £150,000, the equity available is £150,000. This would give you a current loan-to-value (LTV) of 50%, which would determine the type of remortgage deal you could qualify for. Lower LTVs mean lower interest rates, as there’s less risk involved for the lender. 

Yes, it’s possible. This type of home loan is known as an unencumbered mortgage, rather than a remortgage, and is a smart way to release equity tied up in your property to fund home improvements, buy another property, or consolidate unsecured debts.

To find out more, read our guide on Unencumbered Mortgages. 

Yes, you can! Many homeowners remortgage to release equity from their property to pay for renovations. If your home’s value has increased since you first took out your mortgage, or if you’ve paid off a chunk of it, you may be able to borrow more. 

The main considerations will be whether you can afford the new repayments and if the planned improvements will add value to your home.

Yes, it’s possible. It really depends on the type of credit issue you’ve had, the amounts involved and how long since it happened. 

Your choice of mortgage lender can also have a big impact. A specialist lender - one who considers applications on a case-by-case basis - will tend to look more favourably on remortgage applicants with lower credit scores. 

To find out more, read our guide: How to Remortgage With Bad Credit.