Many of us in the United Kingdom have been suffering from the economic nightmare as much as our cousins in the United States. We have been having these types of problems for years but are now just seeing just how hard it is and how hard it is going to get. The lending institutions here have done us just as wrong as banks all over the world. The economic trends have not been for a long time and people are losing their homes because of their greedy nature. With jobs being on the out and payments on the high track there is not much hope for many people unless you want to remortgage. Of course you are scared. I know because I was scared as much as you!

Regardless of the fears you are feeling and the lamenting over whether or not NOW is the right time to remortage – the time is now. Lenders see that their mistakes have caused you, their customer, to go in to debt. The problem is that they do not really care except for their own well being. It is this greedy nature that will cause you to be able to get all of these pesky bills and high interest rates taken care of and done so in a timely manner. Remortgaging is most definitely a viable solution.

If you need your bills to be lowered monthly and your interest rate being reduced then your only recourse is to remortgage now. The problem, however, is having negative equity in your home from past bad debt. If your credit is not the greatest (and, let us face fact – whose is in this economy?) then you may have to jump through a few hoops and kiss some pale bottoms of lenders. In the end you will be able to make some sort of deal though. If you can’t get a loan through your current lender then you will have to look elsewhere. Lucky for you there are companies that specialise in remortgaging for those with bad credit or negative equity in their homes.

If you are one of those people who has been suffering due to the economic crisis then you can be helped. It matters not if you have had late payments on previous mortgage loans or other bills. Even if you have arrears on your name of loan defaults you can still get a bad credit mortgage or remortgage from those companies willing to take a chance with you. Some of you may also have CCJs or IVAs against you but even with those problems you can still manage to luck out and secure a remortgage loan. Basically the company will make you a new mortgage based on the equity of your home and apply the balance to the old mortgage and restructure the new one with a lower interest rate. With this type of remortgage plan the lender has little risk.

Many banks will adopt a “reverse mortgage” structure for those with bad credit. Essentially you sign your home over to the lender and they give you a loan equal to that amount and pay it out to you as an annuity. It acts as an income and you are allowed to stay in the home. Upon your death the home is sold and they get the cash back hoping for an up turn in the home selling market. You can also repay the loan and retain your home without worrying about being hit with large fees for early repayment.

Take advantage of the Banks

Problem mortgages are a specialty of several lending institutions. Replacing yor current mortgage with a new one comes with many advantages and very few disadvantages. The following is just a few reasons why remortgaging can work for you right now:

*Obviously lowering your interest rates and monthly payments is a chief selling point to remortgaging. This leaves you with more money available each month which can only help your financial well being.

*The old saying goes that nothing in life is sure other than death and taxes. Debt is something you were essentially born with be it emotional debt to your parents for rearing you or owing lunch money in your early school life. Between all of the usual things like taxes, school and vehicle payments debt is something we have learned to live with along with living on credit. Remortgaging now can help you take care of many of those lingering debts by giving you one payment.

*Owning your home is a risk you take. Your home has a lot of upkeep like your gardening, roof upkeep and the like. Your remortgage money can pay off your mortgage as well as pay for all upkeep on anything else you may need to pay for on your home.

*Changing a career with lingering bills is no easy task especially if you need to go back to school. Remortgaging can afford you that possibility.

*If you need a new car you can get one easily by remortgaging and using the money for that reason.

Though banks and financial institutions may offer remortgage solutions always check out their competitors for the best rate possible but this is the best time to do so because they are fighting for your business!

Well we were going to put a high ltv mortgage comparison chart on here, but after going through the data there weren’t enough mortgage lenders to create a chart!

Whats LTV ? – Click here to find out

This is the result of the so called credit crunch (lenders are scared)
So you really DO need a deposit, without a deposit you are going to be struggling to get a mortgage, best advice is to speak with an independent advisor (mortgage broker) to try and get around this problem – think accountancy creativity. Or borrow the deposit off your Aunty or Uncle

The good news is we did find a couple of UK lenders that are giving out mortgages based on high 90% + LTV’s so here they are:-

Woolwich – remortgaging only – 90% LTV – 3.49%

Abbey – mortgages, first time buyer mortgages and remortgages – 95% LTV – 7.09%

Halifax – first time buyer – 90% LTV – 6.99%

Like chess, and other games of strategy, the game we play with mortgages is a lot more important. Sometimes, when we fail at that game, we can remortgage and start again. Strategy plays a very important part in remortgaging so always plan out your moves well ahead! When you are reaching the end of your mortgage it is time to plan the next step and you pretty much have but two choices:

1. Start paying your lender’s standard variable rate or;
2. Remortgage your loan in hopes of finding yourself a much better deal.

The current market is bringing nothing but uncertainty with it because of the recession, people are scared. It is in these hard times where mortgage lending can take one of two different routes. The first idea is that due to the bad times we are facing and the lenders fearing a loss in interest funds decreasing that getting a mortgage (or remortgaging) is much easier. The other issue is that the horizon is ever looming with pitfalls that the lenders tighten their purse strings and get to be a lot more finicky when giving out the loans. Even if you have a proven track record as a lendee and a homeowner you may still find that mortgage loans are not as inexpensive as they should be and a lot harder to get.

Over the last year or so housing prices have fallen by 10% – 40% (depending on who you listen to)  and there are no signs at this stage of the game that they are going to stop dropping. This is backed up by predictions from the country’s leading financial experts. Many homeowners are expected to find themselves amidst negative equity. A negative equity is when you owe more to your lender than what your home is actually worth. Basically a person that took out a mortgage that is 100% of the current value of the home is in negative equity from the onset of the mortgage due to depreciation. The same is obvious for someone that took out a loan at 125% of the value of the home since you are already borrowing 25% more than the current value. Negative equity can also occur to homeowners that only place small deposits on their mortgage loans.

Unfortunately for you if you are in the middle of a negative equity issue then you simple cannot take out another mortgage or remortgage. If you owe £150,000 on your current mortgage it would not be in the lender’s best interest to give you another loan on a property that is now only worth £120,000. Basically, if you find yourself getting to the end of your mortgage and you see that you will be in a negative equity, you will begin to pay your lender’s SVR. If by the end of the mortgage term you find that you still have some equity remaining in your home that a remortgage on your current line can still be possible and a good idea assuming you are doing it for all of the right reasons.

Remortgaging for the Purpose of Withdrawing Equity

There are always a myriad of reasons why someone would want to remortgage their home. Perhaps they want to get a lower rate (or at least home to) or they want to make much needed repairs, go on a vacation, increase a university savings fund, buy a new car or several thousand other reasons. Whichever your case might be the number one reason to remortgage is to take out equity from your home.

Not everyone understands the nuances or the lingo of the mortgage world and that is completely fine – that is why you have people like me to help you. One term that is confusing to some people is “equity” – what is it – why do we have it – can we take it out? Equity is its simplest terms is how much your home is worth at the time you mortgage it – not how much it was when you bought it. Your equity can increase and decrease over time and through market up and down trends. So if you paid £120,000 for your home when you mortgage the value of your home could be £100,000 and that would be your equity. As far as the other questions go yes we can take out the equity – that’s why we mortgage and remortgage the home. We have equity due to the market and worth; the asset of the home.

Equity typically rises and falls due to the deposit you placed on the home, any repayments you have made up to the point you are going to remortgage or mortgage and any increase or decrease over the years. The ups and downs in the value of the home can be anything from outdated pipes that would need to be replaced by the new owner or a new roof you have placed on the home at your own expense. You will have to rely on the information from lenders and independent surveyors.

Once you have gone to a lender and withdrawn the equity from your home you will have to expect one of two things to occur. You will have to extend the original mortgage repayment period so that you can cover the added funds placed on the mortgage. The other thing you can expect is to find that your borrowed amount – what you owe on your mortgage – will have to be paid back through higher monthly payments. Whichever of these two things actually occur the equity of your home increase what you owe on it. If the housing market takes a tumble and continues to decrease you will be risking finding yourself in negative equity which will just continue to pile up. Of course this negative equity makes it darn near impossible to remortgage.

If you have equity in your home currently then you can draw off of it by remortgaging or mortgaging. If you are responsible in your needs then you can withdraw from your equity in your home without much risk – despite the housing market down turns. The last thing that you want to do is risk negative equity.

Remortgaging for the Purpose of Lowering Your Interest Rates or Increasing Repayments

Probably the most common reason to remortgage your home is in order to change your current deal with the mortgage lender. You will normally do this for one of two reasons:

1. Because you do not like the current interest rate that you have from your lender due to your own current research showing the market trends being lower than your currently or;
2. The payment plan that you are on at this point in time is too much for you to handle and you need lower payments but will handle somewhat higher interest rates and a longer period of time to payback the debt.

Sadly, if you are on a fixed-rate mortgage you may not be able to change your current mortgage terms in order to get a lower interest rates. Of course this is always dependant on what the current mortgage market rates are at the time you are looking to remortgage. Regardless of the market, however; you should be able to find a much better deal than your current lender’s SVR. When you are in the middle of paying off a fixed-rate mortgage you will have to pay your lender’s SVR rate when your fixed mortgage comes to an end.

Negative equity is a very versatile pain in the neck. Just because you are paying a lower interest rate does not mean you are protected from this monster. If you can afford it you can elect to pay more than your monthly payment to the lender (not including paying the interest) you can do so by paying more than normal payment. This decreases what you on your mortgage loan as well as decreasing your payments. Be smart about it though because many lenders will give you a penalty fee if you happen to pay off your loan ahead of schedule. Essentially you are actively increasing the equity in your home while decreasing the likelihood of you being stuck with a negative equity. The bottom line here is that you are avoiding the possibility of damaging the value of your home.