When to remortgage, and how to do it

Start looking about six months before your current fixed or tracker deal ends. Most lenders will let you reserve a new rate three to six months ahead, so you can lock something in and still switch if better terms appear before completion. The decision is really between a product transfer, which keeps you with your existing lender, and a full remortgage, which moves you to a new one. Doing nothing means falling onto your lender's standard variable rate, which is usually the most expensive outcome available to you.

Why the end date of your deal matters so much

A fixed rate does not end your mortgage. It ends the discounted period. When it expires, the loan reverts to the lender's standard variable rate, or SVR. The SVR is set by the lender, can move at any time, and is typically well above the rates the same lender offers on new fixed products. Lenders do not switch you automatically to something cheaper. If you take no action, you simply pay more.

The gap can be substantial. On a 200,000 pound repayment balance over 20 years, the difference between two illustrative rates of 4.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent is roughly 350 pounds a month. That is not a forecast of any current rate. It is simply an illustration of why the reversion date deserves a diary entry.

Your lender should write to you before the deal ends. Do not wait for that letter to start work. By the time it arrives you may have only weeks left, and a full remortgage takes longer than that.

A product transfer means taking a new rate from your existing lender on the same loan. Because you are not borrowing from anyone new, it usually needs no fresh affordability assessment, no new valuation and no legal work. It is often executable online or over the phone in a day or two. There are normally no legal or valuation fees.

A remortgage moves the debt to a different lender. That is a full mortgage application. It means income verification, bank statements, a credit search, a valuation of the property and conveyancing to discharge the old charge and register the new one. It takes weeks, not days.

The trade-off is straightforward. Product transfers are fast, low friction and low risk of rejection. Remortgages open up the whole market and often produce a better rate, but they can fail if your circumstances have weakened since you last applied.

Product transfers tend to win when your income has fallen, you have become self-employed recently, you have picked up adverse credit, the property is hard to value or unusual, or the rate difference is small enough that the hassle is not worth it. Remortgages tend to win when your loan to value has improved, your income has risen, the balance is large enough that a small rate difference matters in pounds, or you also want to change the term or borrow more.

Around six months out, check your current deal's end date, your outstanding balance and any early repayment charge. Get a rough view of what your home is worth. Pull your credit files.

At five to six months out, compare your existing lender's product transfer options against what the wider market offers. A whole-of-market broker can do both sides of that comparison in one conversation.

At three to four months out, apply. If you are remortgaging, you submit a full application with payslips or accounts, bank statements and identification. The lender instructs a valuation, often a desktop or drive-by rather than a physical inspection. A mortgage offer typically follows within two to six weeks, though this varies a lot by lender and by how clean your case is.

After the offer, conveyancing runs. A remortgage conveyance is much lighter than a purchase, but it still involves title checks, redemption figures from your existing lender and Land Registry work. Four to six weeks is a reasonable expectation, and longer if there is anything unusual about the title, such as a shared ownership element, a leasehold with a slow freeholder, or a name to be added or removed.

You aim for completion on the first day after your current deal expires. That way you never touch the SVR.

A remortgage can carry an arrangement or product fee, often between roughly 500 and 1,500 pounds, though many products are fee free at a slightly higher rate. There may be a valuation fee, though remortgage valuations are frequently free. Legal costs are often covered by a free legal package from the new lender, but the free package can be slower than instructing your own solicitor.

You may also pay a broker fee. Some brokers charge nothing to the client and are paid by the lender. Others charge a fee. Both models are legitimate. Ask which applies before you engage anyone, and ask what it buys you.

The cost that catches people out is the early repayment charge. If you leave a fixed deal early, you typically pay a percentage of the balance, often stepping down each year. On a 250,000 pound balance a 2 per cent charge is 5,000 pounds. That almost always outweighs a modest rate saving, which is why timing to the end of the deal matters.

Lenders usually let you add the product fee to the balance. It is convenient and it preserves your cash, but you then pay interest on that fee for the remaining term. On a 1,000 pound fee added to a 25 year mortgage, the total cost is considerably more than 1,000 pounds. On a large loan, a fee-paying product at a lower rate can still be cheaper overall than a fee-free one. On a small loan, the fee-free option usually wins. Compare the true cost over the fixed period, not the headline rate.

Sometimes the best remortgage is no remortgage. If your balance is small, say under 50,000 pounds, the fees can swallow the saving. If you are planning to move house within the next year or two, taking a new fixed rate with an early repayment charge could box you in, though most mortgages are portable. If your circumstances have deteriorated and a new lender might decline you, a product transfer protects you from being stranded on the SVR after a failed application.

A worked example. Suppose you owe 180,000 pounds with 18 years left. Your existing lender offers a product transfer at an illustrative 4.79 per cent with no fees. A new lender offers an illustrative 4.49 per cent with a 999 pound fee. Over a two year fix, the 0.3 percentage point saving is worth roughly 1,050 pounds in interest, against a 999 pound fee plus your time and the risk of the application failing. On those numbers it is close to a coin toss, and the product transfer is arguably the better use of a weekend. Change the balance to 400,000 pounds and the maths flips decisively toward moving.

If you want someone to run both sides of that comparison properly, the MortgageMatch directory lists FCA-authorised brokers across the UK who can look at your existing lender's offer alongside the wider market.