Topping Up Mortgage

JerseyGirl

Registered User
Messages
10
Hi,

I have a query regarding topping up our mortgage. My husband is the sole earner (PAYE), and we have what would be termed as a very low mortgage (15k over 25 years). Initially when we started it about 7 years ago, it was about 150k, and through some good luck, and serious budgeting we got it down to the level it is today. We have been very fortunate thankfully, but also been quite frugal, we have 2 cars, both over 8 years old, dont go on foreign holidays generally. When we got it down to the 15K mark (last year) we turned to ourselves and said thats enough, we are comfortable with the debt and leave it at that (costs about 100 euro pm in repayments).

Anyway, as I said, we have 2 cars, both about 8 years old, and high mileage, and to be honest one is on its last legs and we need to replace it. We also want to take a nice holiday with the kids, nothing extravagant, but a bit more that a trip to west cork which is what weve done over the last 5 years (our last trip abroad was 5 years ago).

So you might see the way this is going now, we have to replace one of the cars, its only worth about 2k, and to be honest, we want to get something quite decent, so looking to spend about 20k on it (second hand passat is the odds on favourite).

We also have a loan at the moment of about 4k, so we went looking for a car loan of 25k to bundle both the existing loan and the car loan into one.

My husband is due a bonus (once off) and a few other small payments by end of year that will give us another 10k, so effectively we are looking at 15k additional long term borrowings (5yrs) to pay for car, although we need to get the 25k within the next few weeks (old car is due nct, tax, service etc, and not worth spending more money on).

So we went about looking for loan of 25k as a personal loan, and got 5 year repayments of about 500euro pm. This would reduce by early next year once we got the 10k I mentioned above, so the payments would then be about 300 or so a month.

We started thinking then about our mortage, whcih is only 15k, and the rate we are getting on that (tracker at ecb+.9% with ICS), basically we thought we could borrow on that much cheaper and with more flexibility (although whatever additional we borrow, we are determined to repay it all within the 5 years, or hopefully earlier).

Just looking for some advice on this, whether people think its a good way to go, and what would be the best options. ICS seem a bit limited in the the options, so we may have to go elsewhere if we can get a better product, although the low mortage amount we would be looking for would not get many mortage companies excited enough to barter or offer payments for costs etc I would imagine.

Anyway, hope this makes sense, the general feeling between my husband and myself, is we've spent the last 10 years being frugal, we are still young (ish, late 30;s is still young!!), have young kids and want to treat ourselves a bit. There is the practical element to spending a higher amount on the car also, as we woudl aim to keep it for 4 to 5 years before trading in again, so want to get something thats going to work well for us over the period and give us at least a reasonable trade in value.

Thanks,
Jerseygirl
 
Hi,

I have a query regarding topping up our mortgage. My husband is the sole earner (PAYE), and we have what would be termed as a very low mortgage (15k over 25 years). Initially when we started it about 7 years ago, it was about 150k, and through some good luck, and serious budgeting we got it down to the level it is today. We have been very fortunate thankfully, but also been quite frugal, we have 2 cars, both over 8 years old, dont go on foreign holidays generally. When we got it down to the 15K mark (last year) we turned to ourselves and said thats enough, we are comfortable with the debt and leave it at that (costs about 100 euro pm in repayments).

Anyway, as I said, we have 2 cars, both about 8 years old, and high mileage, and to be honest one is on its last legs and we need to replace it. We also want to take a nice holiday with the kids, nothing extravagant, but a bit more that a trip to west cork which is what weve done over the last 5 years (our last trip abroad was 5 years ago).

So you might see the way this is going now, we have to replace one of the cars, its only worth about 2k, and to be honest, we want to get something quite decent, so looking to spend about 20k on it (second hand passat is the odds on favourite).

We also have a loan at the moment of about 4k, so we went looking for a car loan of 25k to bundle both the existing loan and the car loan into one.

My husband is due a bonus (once off) and a few other small payments by end of year that will give us another 10k, so effectively we are looking at 15k additional long term borrowings (5yrs) to pay for car, although we need to get the 25k within the next few weeks (old car is due nct, tax, service etc, and not worth spending more money on).

So we went about looking for loan of 25k as a personal loan, and got 5 year repayments of about 500euro pm. This would reduce by early next year once we got the 10k I mentioned above, so the payments would then be about 300 or so a month.

We started thinking then about our mortage, whcih is only 15k, and the rate we are getting on that (tracker at ecb+.9% with ICS), basically we thought we could borrow on that much cheaper and with more flexibility (although whatever additional we borrow, we are determined to repay it all within the 5 years, or hopefully earlier).

Just looking for some advice on this, whether people think its a good way to go, and what would be the best options. ICS seem a bit limited in the the options, so we may have to go elsewhere if we can get a better product, although the low mortage amount we would be looking for would not get many mortage companies excited enough to barter or offer payments for costs etc I would imagine.

Anyway, hope this makes sense, the general feeling between my husband and myself, is we've spent the last 10 years being frugal, we are still young (ish, late 30;s is still young!!), have young kids and want to treat ourselves a bit. There is the practical element to spending a higher amount on the car also, as we woudl aim to keep it for 4 to 5 years before trading in again, so want to get something thats going to work well for us over the period and give us at least a reasonable trade in value.

Thanks,
Jerseygirl


Hi Jerseygirl

A lot of people have been doing top ups on there mortgage for debt consolidation and releasing equity for numerous reasons. You could do this and would definately benefit from the lower rate. A disadvantage is that it is secured against your home and if payments stop there could be serious reprecusions. You may have to pay legal fee's, depending on the lender. You will also have to pay valuation fee. You will need to put a new life assurance policy in place to cover the top up.It could also take a while to do the transaction, depending on what documents the bank is looking for to processing them through etc. If you had all your documents ready to go and had a good contact in the bank or broker it could be pushed through fairly quick. You may also encounter a fee from a broker as the commission due would be circa 100euro for the amount of work to be done.

All in all a lot of people do this to benefit from a lower interest rate

I hope this helps
 
Hi Johnie,
Thanks for the reply. Our mortage protection is still in place and the amount we are covered is almost 100k, even though the outstanding balance on the mortage now is only 15K. If we stick with ICS, would the fees be waived ?

Jersygirl
 
The likes of IIB allow you to borrow cash on your mortgage account if you're ahead of your payment schedule.
You're obviously ahead of your payment schedule and I realise it's a different bank but you could approach them directly and ask what fees are in place. I wouldn't expect to see any charge considering you still have all youre other policies in place.
 
sorry but you did so well you almost saved too agressively into your mortgage which is hard to get money out of, I think they call it low gearing (hard to get back out). Credit Union maybe as low interest, if not make sure there are no baloon payment clause in the loan you get as I sure given your history you will pay it off sooner than term. Having an emergency fund is probably a good idea in future in a high interest account. Havent read your thread in detail so excuse my accusations.
 
Definitely a mortgage top up is the way to go for you. Well done on getting your mortgage down so low. Don't forget that there is mortgage interest relief (TRS) for home owners and it may actually be better tax wise to have a larger mortgage than 15K. Enjoy the car and have a wonderful holiday.
 
Remember you may need to take legal fees into account if you are restructuring.
 
Hi Johnie,
Thanks for the reply. Our mortage protection is still in place and the amount we are covered is almost 100k, even though the outstanding balance on the mortage now is only 15K. If we stick with ICS, would the fees be waived ?

Jersygirl

Hi JerseyGirl.

The fee would probably come from your solicitor and broker. So I doubt they would be waived. If you don't ask you wont get. It's about getting the best for you all round. Did you get your initail mortage through a broker
 
Hi JWMB,

Yep, initial mortage was through broker, but dealing direct with ICS now. I think the fees may not apply by the sounds of what ICS are saying, the only fees they mentioned is a possible valuation, but they said they may not ask for this.

Looks like we will go the ICS route, but have arranged an alternative loan in the short term, as its likely to take a few weeks to sort.

Jersyegirl
 
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