Money Box Live: How to Pick a Mortgage

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Hello, welcome to this Money Box Live podcast. Mortgages, one of the most important financial products that most of us ever come across. But they're also complicated. So with more than 7,000 products on the market How do you pick the right one for you? Well, that's what we're asking on today's Money Box Live Podcast.

Nearly two million households in the UK will have to make that choice this year because their fixed rate mortgage deals expire, and of course so will probably hundreds of thousands of others. First time buyers, upsers, downsizers, or indeed same sizers who move to follow jobs. or family. At a time when rates are held at three point seven five percent but expected to fall later this year and relaxed lending rules means some people can borrow six and a half times, yes.

six and a half times their salary, and for a longer term as well. It can all feel pretty overwhelming and very hard to choose the best mortgage for you. Around a third of households in the UK have a mortgage. Felicity Hanna went out in Warrington to ask people there how much they know about the deal they're on.

Very little. Do you know what rate you're paying? Not off the top of my head. I have it on my paperwork at home, but I couldn't tell you. What do you know about your mortgage? Do you know the rate for that you're on, for example? Uh yeah. What can you tell me about your mortgage? No not much. I know that was a fixed term and the fixed term's up soon. I know that I need to review it in February. We had a good deal years ago and now it's due up. But it's February now. No, February next year.

next year and I need to make sure that all of our finances are in good stead, ready for next year. Well some people definitely more organised than others. And joining me to bring clarity to confusion are today's experts.

Sally Mitchell is a mortgage advisor at Diverse Financial. Sally Mitchell, a lot of people in Warrington freely admitted they didn't know much about their mortgage or they had to get jolly organised in the next year. Does that alarm you? Because n not knowing can cost you, can't it? It it certainly can. Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me. It's what I hear an awful lot of.

Even with just basic questions, clients will say, Not sure, not sure, don't know where my paperwork is. It shows the importance of getting really good advice. um at the very beginning and and keeping in contact with your broker or your advisor to make sure that, you know, y you're you're reviewing things regularly, at least every year.

But I suppose most people are most concerned, can I afford it this month? So uh the the nuts and bolts of how that figure in their bank account comes about they're not that interested in. No, once it's set up they they tend to forget about it. And actually I think that's that's quite nice. It means that they are actually probably on the absolutely right product for them because

It goes after their bank and they don't worry. Yes. Well also with us is Paul Broadhead. He's head of mortgages and housing at the Building Societies Association. Um Paul, Paul Broadhead, there's a lot of choice, isn't there? Over seven thousand products. Fixed rate mortgages, different lengths, different rates, some with fees, some without

I think when you start to look at those seven thousand words it can be really bewildering and really confusing, isn't it? Um but the the the main the best piece of advice there is make sure that you speak to an expert. There's a range of products paying a variable rate mortgage way, whether you want certainty of the payment that you're going to have, the size of your deposit.

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They absolutely do. They can talk to you about the number of products and the type of products that they offer, how they will assess whether you can afford that mortgage as well, how they'll utilise

information about your income and your spending habits and most importantly for many people what will happen at the end of that deal, what will happen when that interest rate expires, will that go up? And what your options are? Yes, because in the past of course we tended to buy a mortgage and that was it. for the rest of the term, but now of course it's a two, five year fixed rate, isn't it? So you do have to think about it again like that.

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Mine goes up and down based on obviously the interest rates. I see you're on a tracker mortgage. So am I? That's a good question. I couldn't tell you what it's called, I just know that it when the put the rates down down my mortgage goes down slightly. Compared to what a lot of other people pay, I think I don't do too badly so um I'm happy with it. But if I wasn't I would

look into it and start doing a swatting up and doing my research. Yes, swatting up, that's the answer I think to what's the best mortgage for me.

Um now Paul, her mortgage is moving up and down as the Bank of England changes its base rate. Now that's three and three quarter percent, but you're not going to get a mortgage at three and three quarter percent. It's going to be a tracker mortgage will be a percentage or two on top of that won't it there will be a premium above the bank of england as well and these these are suitable for a range of people as well if you don't need that

certainty for a two or five year period because perhaps you've got an irregular income, you've got some savings coming, something that will mature that you can pay that off. yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r You've just mentioned another complexity. You take out a fixed mortgage for two years or maybe five years. If you want to get rid of it within that time, there is a penalty very often.

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So Sally, what's happening with fixed rate mortgages? I was r reading an article about'em this morning, preparing for this programme. I came away confused. Some are down, some are up. One is down naught point naught three percent, which makes me think so what? What's happening to fixed rates? No. They're being they are being tweaked all the time. Obviously a week yes tweaked. Um

It's happening yep, all the time. Um and not a week goes by without one or two lenders, you know, changing their rates and sometimes their rates are only available for a couple of weeks at a time. Um they are generally on a downward trajectory, which is great news. Which of course is because the Bank of England expects rates to fall. It's actually said that, hasn't it? Yes, absolutely. We're looking at another couple of cuts this year. Yeah.

And Paul, I mentioned the nearly two million households coming off a fixed rate because they do come to an end, don't they? Will they be facing a shock? Will they have to pay more? Or will they find the mortgage they can get now slightly cheaper? Yn ymwneud, mae'n ymwneud yn ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl.

uh per month. Well that's a shock, isn't it? That's quite a big increase because we've seen those raises uh in interest rates. The important thing just to reassure people is that when they took that mortgage out in twenty one or twenty two.

the lender will have y what they call stress tested that. So that's just making sure that they can absorb that increase uh in the event of interest rates as well. So even over the last few years when we've seen people coming off these and payments going up, we haven't seen Rydyn ni'n gwneud rhywbeth o bobl sy'n gwneud rhywbeth. Rydyn ni'n gwneud rhywbeth o gwneud rhywbeth o gwneud rhywbeth o gwneud rhywbeth o gwneud rhywbeth o gwneud rhywbeth o gwneud rhywbeth.

How much should you borrow? Let's hear from Amanda, Kirsty and Maeve. They were out with their children, and they stopped to chat with our producer Sarah Rogers in Stockport this week on what's important to them. It was how long the fixed term was gonna be and we got our mortgage at the time that interest rates were flying up so we were trying to get it as quick as possible before it went done. When you're thinking about mortgage and the amount of money that you take out, does it feel like

Real money. It's like a student loan, isn't it? No, I think the thing with the instr uh the interest rates is like the the biggest worry. So it's like how long do you do it for. We've just gone for two years. We've actually not got that much left on our mortgage. I think we've got like thirty K. However, we're gonna take like additional lending to do an extension. So that was like weighing up if we should move and take a bigger mortgage. Oh

do additional lending with our current mortgage provider. But basically we will have like put another ten years on the mortgage but fund the extension. Yeah, but I think for us like when w oh when we first got a mortgage was purely based on like the repayments. So not about the interest, not about the how much it was, just and is that less than Renting. But yeah, it didn't feel real, it's just like

Can I afford it? Will they give it to me? Yeah, that's fine then. And you'll take the maximum amount? Yeah.

Yeah. Lots of people taking the maximum. I think there's a bit of financial education going on there, Sally. Children do learn about finance from parents' conversations, things they may not learn at school. So m most people do cut through the jargon, as we heard there, they just want to know what will it cost each month? Can I afford it? Should they really dig down and know more about the nuts and bolts of the mortgage than that?

Um I think knowledge is power, so I'm always very keen to educate my clients as much as as possible. Um, but it comes up time and time again. It is the monthly figure. that they are interested in. And and actually I don't think that's too bad a thing. If it's affordable

You know, if they know that it's comfortable then that's what matters. Yes, it's affordability that's the key, isn't it, I suppose. But but Paul, people can now borrow more than they could in the past. I mean, forget three times your salary, which it used to be. We heard on Saturday from a doctor, Maddy, we'll hear a bit more from her later perhaps. She borrowed six times her salary. Is that sensible?

I think again it depends on your circumstances. We've seen a real drive from regulators to simplify regulation and introduce some flexibility so we have seen a growth in people being able to borrow six up to six and a half. yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n

then that affordability will be checked and that regulation isn't going to change. No, I mean that's fine. I mean for a doctor particularly they do move up the pace scale quite rapidly but of course there is accident, there is illness, there is domestic strife, you know, so it's not that certain, is it? And what about borrowing over thirty five or forty years? Is that happening just to make a mortgage affordable?

It is in in many cases, yes. I mean we no we used to see mortgages repaid after twenty five years. The the rate in house price growth versus people's incomes has now meant most first time buyers are taking mortgages of up to thirty five years.

But but you make more interest, don't you? I mean, is that why you encourage them?'Cause you it's better for you. It may not be better for the for the borrower. I think it's important for people to understand if they take a mortgage over a longer term they will pay more interest. Rydyn ni'n ymwneud â'r pethau sy'n ymwneud â'r pethau sy'n ymwneud â'r pethau sy'n ymwneud â'r pethau sy'n ymwneud â'r pethau sy'n ymwneud â'r pethau sy'n ymwneud â'r pethau sy'n ymwneud â phethau.

yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n they say, Oh, if I really stretch myself six times my pay, forty year term, I can buy that dream home. Do you say go ahead or do you say, maybe you should buy something a bit cheaper? Um it it really does depend on the individual. Again, it comes down to affordability and also their lifestyle and what how they want to their lives to look.

You know, if they're going to tell me that they're still going to spend fifteen thousand pounds on safaris and uh trips to the you know, the the Maldives every year, then I might say, Do you know what? This is not sustainable and we can't do this. And I'd be quite strict and and and tell them, you know, you need to either rein it in or or give some things up. Yes, and Kirsty of course, who we just heard, said

That she had thirty thousand left to pay on her mortgage, but she wants more room. Now instead of moving, she was going to borrow more for an i for an extension. Is that becoming common? Yeah, I see that an awful lot, especially it from you know

COVID times and the aftermath where, you know, the way we lived our lives and work, um, work life balance changed. Um, it's very, very expensive to move house. So a lot of people, you know, they love where they are, they love their neighbours, family nearby. Do the bifold doors and and don't bother moving. Yes, and of course no stamp duty on an extension, is there? Absolutely. And and Paul, briefly in in a few words.

She said she fixed for two years because she was hoping rates might come down. Is that what a lot of people are saying now briefly? I think a number of people do do that, yeah, so it's important to get that advice. But they are guessing about the future, which is always a bit of a risk, isn't it? The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads.

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Let's hear from someone now who's in a very different position. Here's Alan. I got in touch because I'm sixty three. I don't have a mortgage, I don't have a house now because of choices I've made in my life. I've got eighty thousand pounds, I'd like to buy a one hundred and sixty thousand pounds house. But they won't lend me that much money because I have to be able to pay it off by the time I'm seventy. That's it. So I'm completely stuffed. I even paid a mortgage broker to log

He looked and he could find absolutely nothing. I tried the bank that I joined when I was sixteen, that I'm still a customer of and that I've had four mortgages through in my life. No, don't do it. Hang on a minute. I've got good credit and you won't lend to me because you don't want to as an industry. That seems unfair. So, Paul, speaking for the industry, are you being unfair? I don't think the industry is being unfair and actually we've done a lot of work.

in the building society sector to look at people that need to borrow either into or in retirement as well because many of these people do have good credits uh and as a country it should be celebrated that we're we're living longer and I think there is Mae llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer

Yes. Uh uh and Sally, could you get a mortgage for him? I mean, I don't know about his circumstances, but if he's got a pension, that is safer than a job, isn't it? Yeah, I mean it it really is. Alan's no specific sort of case which I I would hate to to to guess at or hazard to guess at. But yes.

As um Paul said, a lot of lenders will go up to you know have no age limit or even eighty. I I deal with a lot of lenders who do that. Pension income, investment income, property, rental income, all of that does count. And with many people if they're self employed then, you know, they will be receiving salary and dividends to potentially at a very, very late age. So it can be done. I'm just sorry that Alan Can't find a solution yet.

Yes, yes, well uh i he has tried a broker or he tried he tried a broker. Is that the same as a as an advisor? Is that what you call yourself? Yes, yeah, absolutely. Um yeah. Uh figures from UK finance did did they told us that mortgage loans to borrowers over the age of fifty five, that's a bit younger than than uh Alan, um, was up eighteen percent. So people do both need to and succeed in borrowing in later life.

Yes, they do. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think what we're seeing is that later life lending moving from what used to be a niche product to almost the norm. You know, we know that first time buyers are facing this double whammy. ymwneud â llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer i'w llawer Yes, and of course if you're if you're in your twenties it does take you there, but of course if you're in your

forties or even fifties and you want to borrow, it takes you way beyond pension age, doesn't it? So you've got to be you've got to be sure that you can pay it, that's the key thing. It is, and we need to make sure we adapt to to serve those evolving needs. Yes.

Uh now you mentioned first-time buyers and on Saturday I mentioned this uh earlier. We heard from Maddy. Now she's a twenty-three-year-old resident doctor. She took out a thirty-five year mortgage. six times her salary to buy her first home in Somerset. She was very pleased that she could do it and thrilled to be in her new home. But and she realised renting was actually going to be more expensive of the mortgage she took out.

I thought, oh, I'll just have a look and see what options are out there in terms of buying a house, but I just didn't really think it would be possible fresh out of university. And then spoke to a broker and the broker said that I would be eligible for kind of a higher multiple mortgage. So I started looking at houses and I think I closed on my house within two and a half months. I essentially Completed on my house a move.

to where I now live within a week and then started my job the next week. You can hear the smile in Maddy's voice, can't you really there, Sally? Um now of course most of the people we've been talking about are remortgaging, but of course she's a first time buyer. What should people do to make the bank want to lend to them? Oh be as vanilla as possible. yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n.

Oh yes, they they'll want to see bank statements. I as a broker have to look at at least three months worth of bank statements and and check and log absolutely all activity. Um good clean credit report is very, very important, no missed payments um and as little other financial commitments in terms of credit cards and loans as possible. And not much going out to the pub. Uh no we allow people to go to the park. But not to spend a lot you know, not to go out eating out every night.

No, absolutely. And that's you know, we go through a budget planner very, very precisely with clients to make sure that they know what they're doing. Save some money, prepare, be a bit austere for a few months, six months maybe twelve. And interestingly you mentioned a good credit record and we've had an email from um, I'll just call her Sophia. Me and my husband have been paying off a mortgage for almost ten years now

Can anyone I guess that's you, Sally, advise on whether we'll be able to renew and where best to go? Oh bless her. It's it's an I mean life life changes. Life chrows you curveballs. Um it depends where who the default is with. A lot of lenders will ignore utility defaults. You mean like electricity and water and things like that? Water, et cetera, or telecoms, so your mobile phone and those are the most common ones I see.

If it's the default on a credit card or a loan, then it's slightly more tricky. But yes, the good news is there are plenty of lenders who have products or specialise in what we call adverse credit. But she will pay more, won't she? She will. Um unfortunately the more more interesting you are as a as a case

You do tend to pay for that privilege, but someone will will lend. Interesting, yes. Interesting. And just mention just let me mention briefly student loans because we've done a lot on this and peop student were told in the past it wouldn't affect their mortgage. And of course th the actual debt doesn't.

But the affordability is affected, isn't it? If you're paying two or three hundred pounds a month off your student loan. Yes, it gets it gets um cut off the top. So it's a it's a commitment. We can see it on your pay slip. It's something that has to be taken into account. So the m you have less money left, in other words, for your mortgage. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let me raise another email now from um

Uh Adrian sorry Adrian Adrian's emailed saying this is ridiculous he was talking about uh dear old Maddy, who's very thrilled to have her home. Um Are we are we heading for another crash? And I have to say, Paul, when we were talking about how many mortgages there's there were October two thousand and seven and we all remember what happened just after that, don't we? A crash. We we we do indeed, and that's a that's a fair question for people to pose.

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Right. So and that's pretty much what UK Finance has said to us in the past too, that they they lend responsibly and there is more help available. Let's hear now from Clive. He's got a very interesting question. Currently I'm in a interest only mortgage situation, but I've had a bit of extra cash come in from inheritance and I wanted to know whether it's worth trying to overpay an interest only mortgage. The terms I've got at the moment it's fixed for two years, so I can only pay ten percent off

um a year um and I'm doing that. After that runs out, is it worth me trying to use extra money that I might have to get the mortgage m amount down so that I can then actually change the mortgage to a repayment mortgage so that then over the next ten years it's paid off. Hm. So he has a an interest only mortgage, in other words, he's not actually making a dent in the amount he borrowed and at the end he will have to find some way of paying that or paying all that back.

a few are still available paul aren't they um what what should he do i mean should he pay off Mae llawer o bobl sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n sy'n At the end of that two years, just make sure you speak to the lender or your advisor to make sure you get a product that has those facilities that you need.

Yes, and Sally, that is important to get advice, isn't it? Because you know which of them have that facility. Some you can pay off any amount you want to, others limit it to a certain percentage of the of the loan every year. Yeah, absolutely. And be careful um where the year actually begins and ends. If you're quite clever, sometimes it doesn't start and end in January. You can actually, you know, pay off two ten percent within two months.

And that's what I'm always looking to do for people. Oh I see, and that's when you have a bit of spare money coming in, you can use a you can uh getting any penalty. So you have to find out when their new year is, which as you say isn't January or even it can change, it depends on when you complete it. So but you think that's in a word good idea.

I think it's a great idea. Right. Good. Let's move on. Mick has messaged us on Blue Sky. We're getting a lot of responses today. Uh why are offset mortgages such a hidden secret? And I have to confess some people don't even know what one is. Let's hear from Karen. She has an offset mortgage.

We've had it for probably about twenty up to about twenty years. So we've had other types of mortgages before that. I was of the understanding really that it wasn't really a product that was offered so much these days. I haven't really looked at any other products obviously for a long time because of the fact that we aren't paying any interest. We've saved quite a lot of money over the years so they tell us about it every three months so we can have a smile on our faces.

Well it sounds a magic product, Sally, not paying any interest. W how do they work? Well it it is quite niche, I have to I have to say. I don't get an awful lot of um call for them because if people have it basically you have to have some cash. You have to have some cash reserves to put against the debt. Um and you only pay interest on what is left, what you what you can't offset. Right.

So you have a savings account essentially and you have a mortgage. And you pay interest on the difference between the two rather than the whole lawyer. But surely if you've got that money in cash

Just pay off the mortgage. Well that's what people tend to do, so that's why it is a bit niche. But If you've got um high cash reserves or you've got a fluctuating cash reserve, maybe you're self employed and you suddenly get, you know, a a lot through from your business, you can offset that way and you don't tie up that money in a mortgage. So it can it can ebb and flow and you just accept you pay a bit more interest when your cash reserves go down.

Yeah. Oh I see. So you don't pay tax on the interest, whereas of course many people do if it's over a certain amount. But the money that you've got on deposit you tend not to get any interest paid on that either. So Um not downside, but the other thing to consider. Yes. We've had another email that's actually very interesting. Um this is Simon who says

Why are fixed rates in UK so so short? Two years, five years we've been talking about. In the USA borrowers take a fixed rate for twenty five years and I do remember the time when you could take one of those in in here in UK. But you can't now, can you, Sally?

Quite briefly. F funnily enough, you can now. There are uh some lenders out there who are doing uh ten, fifteen fixed terms. Um twenty five though. I mean that's fairly no, not twenty five. And that's more of sort of American and European model. Um I don't you know I don't know why um we don't do more of it to be honest. Paul, in a word, are you going to do this?

Um, if there's customer demand I think there will be, but so far there's been very little customer demand for long term fixed rates beyond certainly ten years. Right. So if you're listening and you think it's a good idea, like Simon does, then go in and demand it and then it may change.

Sadly, all we have time for because Money Box is the ultimate fiction. term product and our fixed term is coming to an end. Thank you everyone who emailed us and of course thank you to Sally Mitchell from Verst Financial and Paul Broadhead at the Building Society's Association. I'll be back with the Money Box Podcast on Saturday. And of course you can listen live on Saturday on BBC Radio 4 at midday if you wish.

You've sent us so many emails about delays to civil service pensions. We'll have more on the very latest development as well as top money stories. Moneybox Live is broadcast every week at three PM on Wednesdays on Radio 4 if you want to listen to that live as well. And if you want us to look into something, email us moneybox at bbc.co.uk or send a voice note or a comment. To Money Box on WhatsApp OW three zero six seven eight three one eight three.

In this podcast, the producers were Sarah Rogers and James Graham, studio manager Ben Houghton, production coordinator Jackie Johnson. Our editor is Jess Quail. I'm Paul Lewis, and this was a BBC News Money and Work Production for BBC Sound. What would you do if your deepest secrets were held to ransom? In 2020, every patient who had used a Finnish psychotherapy service called Vastamor had their therapy. and held to ransom by a faceless

Remorseless hacker. It could be some extortionist gang from Eastern Europe or it could be somebody living next door to me. Join me as I... I think I'm going to have a heart attack. This is ransom man. Listen first on BBC. Hey, it's Howie Mandel, and I am inviting you to witness history as me and my Howie Do It gaming team take on Gilly the King and wallow 267's million dollars gaming in an epic Global Gaming League video game showdown.

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called Reasonably Optimistic. And it's an antidote to the pessimism that's riddling America right now. Every Wednesday I'm gonna talk to people who see a path forward. Does seem to me that there is some awakening of a desire to act together to solve problems where they are. You know, I am a believer in America, and it's worth fighting for. Join me Wednesdays on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast.