Fixed rate mortgage ending..options?

My husband's mortgage is on a two-year fixed rate, which is ending next month.  Can he negotiate with the lender for a better rate (or another fixed rate)?  Does anyone know what the options are typically?

We're planning on contacting our financial adviser, but I thought I'd ask here as well.

My husband's mortgage is on a two-year fixed rate, which is ending next month.  Can he negotiate with the lender for a better rate (or another fixed rate)? 

'Negotiate' isnt the word i would use... typically, about a month before your fixed rate ends, the lender will write to you to let you know what your options are.   They will offer you whatever their current 2-year and 5-year fixed rates are, plus a couple of tracker options.   If you dont like what they're offering, then you shop around!

They sent a letter, but didn't give any options besides the tracker.

I think DH will need to call them.

They sent a letter, but didn't give any options besides the tracker.

They may not be offering many options, unfortunately...a lot of mortgage lenders are seriously cutting back and curtailing their lending right now here in this country (credit crunch).  Your current lender may no longer be the best option for you.  Definitely see what your financial advisor may have to say.

My husband follows various 'best rate' mortgages reported in the newspaper from time to time, and created his own spreadsheet (with formulas & stuff) to work out what the net best deal is for us at any given time.  We've had a variable rate mortgage for awhile that sort of keeps within a specified % of current Bank of England rates, but our mortgage lender is not offering the one we have to new customers any longer.

Mrs Robinson - can you ask your husband what the current "going rate" is for both fixed and variable?

I believe the lender said the current tracker rate is 5.95%, but we have no idea if that's good or bad.

In any case, I'll be calling our adviser asap.  Thanks!

Yael, sorry I kind of forgot about this & haven't spoken with DH as of yet.  You might find this helpful:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/

The 'Compare Mortgages' calculator lets you put in some details about what type of mortgage you are needing, your location, some other info, etc...and will pull up various options to compare.

5.95% sounds reasonably competitive to me on a tracker mortgage.  Also, check out this link:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/best-mortgages-cashback

The other thing to consider with mortgages, of course, is in addition to the interest rate - what are all the associated fees...arrangement fees, premiums, broker fees, survey valuation fees, redemption penalties, etc...  So sometimes even though a mortgage might have an attractive interest rate, you might end up paying out the nose on fees & so then it's maybe not such a good deal after all.

All signs are pointing to at least 1 interest rate cut later this year so I think fixed rates are coming down but it doesn't look like rates will be going up for a while now.  Trackers are good in this environment because they will go down if the base rate drops.

Having said that, fixed rates are good to guarantee that you will always pay the same amount each month no matter what happens.

We're in the process of remortgaging with Woolwich, they're doing a 0.69% or 0.89% above base rate tracker (currently 5.69% or 5.89%) but the lower rate comes with, I think, a £599 fee, I think, the higher has no fee.

Be aware, if you switch to another lender they'll need to go through a verification process and get their legal team to do the switchover so it could take 6 weeks or so.