Mortgage struggles

[timd77]

Couple of observations from me. I’ve spent 11 years working in mortgages, have been a mortgage advisor, manager, now in underwriting, so you’d think I’d know a thing or 2. But 2 years ago I decided to fix our mortgage for 2 years, mainly because we planned to move this year. Now we can’t afford to move because the rates have quadrupled so we’re tarting our house up a bit and staying for another 5+ years. Hindsight eh. Shoulda fixed for 5!

Moving on. What gets my goat about the ‘ooh it were tougher in my day’ and ‘I’d have more sympathy if people weren’t driving around in range rovers, watching big TVs and having the latest iPhone’ brigade, are the following.

Thankfully we’ve developed as a country/society, where having to share a bath once a week with your siblings in your Dad’s dirty water, followed by a tea of boiled potatoes and spam, and then off to bed fully clothed in your freezing cold single glazed bedroom you shared with you older brother, is a thing of the past. So to suggest that we’ve got it easy and a bit of hardship or being able to cook a meal for 30p wouldn’t go amiss, doesn’t really wash. I can remember electricity blackouts and having ‘sh*t with sugar on top’ for tea, my dad working 7 days a week to keep on top of things, and it was crap. Thank god we’ve moved on.

Secondly, those people who have to really stretch to afford the ‘luxury’ items, well they’re a result of capitalism and advancement, which we’ve craved and created. Without them, those high earners at the top wouldn’t have their jobs as traders dealing in apple or Tesla, the computer engineers wouldn’t be earning millions at Netflix and Google, and all of their income/tax (what they can’t avoid anyway), wouldn’t be coming into the pot. Everyone is dependant on everyone and everything else in this society we’ve created, so to blame the ones near the bottom or have no sympathy is beyond belief for me.

 

[PJ87]

Couple of observations from me. I’ve spent 11 years working in mortgages, have been a mortgage advisor, manager, now in underwriting, so you’d think I’d know a thing or 2. But 2 years ago I decided to fix our mortgage for 2 years, mainly because we planned to move this year. Now we can’t afford to move because the rates have quadrupled so we’re tarting our house up a bit and staying for another 5+ years. Hindsight eh. Shoulda fixed for 5!

Moving on. What gets my goat about the ‘ooh it were tougher in my day’ and ‘I’d have more sympathy if people weren’t driving around in range rovers, watching big TVs and having the latest iPhone’ brigade, are the following.

Thankfully we’ve developed as a country/society, where having to share a bath once a week with your siblings in your Dad’s dirty water, followed by a tea of boiled potatoes and spam, and then off to bed fully clothed in your freezing cold single glazed bedroom you shared with you older brother, is a thing of the past. So to suggest that we’ve got it easy and a bit of hardship or being able to cook a meal for 30p wouldn’t go amiss, doesn’t really wash. I can remember electricity blackouts and having ‘sh*t with sugar on top’ for tea, my dad working 7 days a week to keep on top of things, and it was crap. Thank god we’ve moved on.

Secondly, those people who have to really stretch to afford the ‘luxury’ items, well they’re a result of capitalism and advancement, which we’ve craved and created. Without them, those high earners at the top wouldn’t have their jobs as traders dealing in apple or Tesla, the computer engineers wouldn’t be earning millions at Netflix and Google, and all of their income/tax (what they can’t avoid anyway), wouldn’t be coming into the pot. Everyone is dependant on everyone and everything else in this society we’ve created, so to blame the ones near the bottom or have no sympathy is beyond belief for me.

Quite possibly the best post on this thread. Sorry to hear didn't work out for you

 

[WGCRider]

If you really think The Guardian doesn't have an axe to grind, you are deluded.

I think the reaction to your post was you saying The Guardian is to one side what the daily mail is to the other. This is untrue. The Guardian leans left in much the same way that the Times or the Telegraph lean right. The mail and the Sun are right wing in the same way the Canary or Communist worker are left wing.

 

[Neilds]

I can (sort of) see this from both sides. I have a well paid job and a military pension , my wife works and we don’t have children so are comfortable. However, my wife works in housing benefits and sees some very real examples of people living beyond their means. She sees bank statements everyday with just eat , deliveroo et. On them and just today saw a statement with £210 going to Bet365 in a single day. These are the people that need to get a grip

 

[PJ87]

I can (sort of) see this from both sides. I have a well paid job and a military pension , my wife works and we don’t have children so are comfortable. However, my wife works in housing benefits and sees some very real examples of people living beyond their means. She sees bank statements everyday with just eat , deliveroo et. On them and just today saw a statement with £210 going to Bet365 in a single day. These are the people that need to get a grip

There will always be exception to every rule , when they say "life on benefits is easy" it's like 1% of benefit claims are "life on benefits" but that 1% is whats hammered down your throat

Benefit fraud and life on benefits costs this country less than tax evasion but one is really played up to be the main issue with the country by the media.

 

[PNWokingham]

I can (sort of) see this from both sides. I have a well paid job and a military pension , my wife works and we don’t have children so are comfortable. However, my wife works in housing benefits and sees some very real examples of people living beyond their means. She sees bank statements everyday with just eat , deliveroo et. On them and just today saw a statement with £210 going to Bet365 in a single day. These are the people that need to get a grip

Spot on. My wife also works in Housing at local authority with main priority of helping the vulnerable keep a roof over their heads. She loves her job and it is very rewarding, with stories varying from helping many Ukrainians to settle and organise benefits, schools etc, helping a widowed Pakistani woman get funding for a right-to-remain appeal and the bulk of the time helping others, many with kids, maximise the benefits they are entitled to and making PIP claims. The converse are those that milk the system, don't pay bills, council tax etc, gamble and smoke and drink excessively running up debts all over. There is a dichotomy between those, the large majority, who are don't understand the system well enough to get what they are owed/ entitled to and the small minority who milk the system and know every trick and take the p*ss and cause unnecessary strain on limited resources that could be targetted at the more deserving

 

[PhilTheFragger]

@pauljames87 & @PNWokingham

You have both had previous infractions and bans for petty squabbling, like kids in the playground.

Once again I have had to break it up and clean up another thread and to be frank, I've had enough of both of you

Infractions for the both of you which will result in bans, any future bans will be made permanent.

 

[sunshine]

Moving on. What gets my goat about the ‘ooh it were tougher in my day’ and ‘I’d have more sympathy if people weren’t driving around in range rovers, watching big TVs and having the latest iPhone’ brigade, are the following.

Thankfully we’ve developed as a country/society, where having to share a bath once a week with your siblings in your Dad’s dirty water, followed by a tea of boiled potatoes and spam, and then off to bed fully clothed in your freezing cold single glazed bedroom you shared with you older brother, is a thing of the past. So to suggest that we’ve got it easy and a bit of hardship or being able to cook a meal for 30p wouldn’t go amiss, doesn’t really wash. I can remember electricity blackouts and having ‘sh*t with sugar on top’ for tea, my dad working 7 days a week to keep on top of things, and it was crap. Thank god we’ve moved on.

You make a good point, in that the standard of living has increased, but many people appear to be living beyond their means and are not prepared to make compromises. Holding on to your iphone for another year is not hardship, nor is downgrading from a Range Rover to a Nissan.

I think the whole instagram / celebrity culture of today is more materialistic than previous generations. "Keeping up with the Joneses" has always been a thing, but now it is on steriods with people living their life as walking adverts for all the merch in their latest haul.

 

[cliveb]

I think the reaction to your post was you saying The Guardian is to one side what the daily mail is to the other. This is untrue. The Guardian leans left in much the same way that the Times or the Telegraph lean right. The mail and the Sun are right wing in the same way the Canary or Communist worker are left wing.

Apologies. I chose the wrong publication. Let me rephrase:
The Guardian is about as impartial as the Telegraph; they just occupy the opposite end of the spectrum. Every article they publish has a left wing agenda.
Better now?

 

[Fade and Die]

It was mentioned earlier in the thread that this High Inflation was not typical and raising the interest rates might not work, this article explains perfectly what the problem is, no surprises it’s Corporate Greed. And the financial institutions are part of it, all raking in big profits whilst a lot of normal people are struggling…

‘Global greedflation’: big firms ‘driving shopping bills to record highs’ | Inflation | The Guardian

Analysis by UK union shows large corporations have improved profits with price rises in cost of living crisis

amp.theguardian.com

For all the doubters out there…..

Fury at British Gas as profit surges by nearly 900% to nearly £1bn

British Gas owner Centrica said underlying earnings at its gas and electricity supply arm jumped 889 per to £969million in the six months to June 30 from £98million a year earlier.

www.dailymail.co.uk

to avoid any cries of political bias…

Shell and Centrica post profits totalling £11bn as households struggle with bills | Shell | The Guardian

British Gas owner reinstates dividends after operating profits of £1.3bn, while Shell reports £10bn profit between April and June

amp.theguardian.com

Get woke people

 

[larmen]

I have a generic question about remortgaging. How do the calculation work?


Excel has quite a nice formula for the original payment, =pmt(rate / 12 , years * 12 , principle )

Now, when we remortgage next we will have been 7 years in, and we overpaid quite a bit.

What numbers would we need fort he formula at that point?
Rate is not going to be 1.5% again, but that's the easy bit to understand.
As term, do we use 25 again? Or should we use the 18 the banks think we think we have left? Or do they work on the new lower principle and work out a duration?
And as new principle, are we working on the number we will have left at that point?

 

[WGCRider]

I have a generic question about remortgaging. How do the calculation work?


Excel has quite a nice formula for the original payment, =pmt(rate / 12 , years * 12 , principle )

Now, when we remortgage next we will have been 7 years in, and we overpaid quite a bit.

What numbers would we need fort he formula at that point?
Rate is not going to be 1.5% again, but that's the easy bit to understand.
As term, do we use 25 again? Or should we use the 18 the banks think we think we have left? Or do they work on the new lower principle and work out a duration?
And as new principle, are we working on the number we will have left at that point?

Your term will be 18 years and the principle is the outstanding balance on the day your new mortgage is due to start. This principle will be lower than the illustration you got with your initial mortgage as you've overpaid. It shouldn't be to hard to work out yourself but if you phone your bank they will give it to you.

 

[larmen]

Your term will be 18 years and the principle is the outstanding balance on the day your new mortgage is due to start. This principle will be lower than the illustration you got with your initial mortgage as you've overpaid. It shouldn't be to hard to work out yourself but if you phone your bank they will give it to you.

Cheers. That's basically what I hoped for, and a lot less scary than the media makes it out to be, in our case.
We lucked out 3 years ago by going for 5 instead of 2 years, paying about 25 pounds more a month, but turns out to be worth it. Still 2 to go before we have to change.

 

[WGCRider]

Cheers. That's basically what I hoped for, and a lot less scary than the media makes it out to be, in our case.
We lucked out 3 years ago by going for 5 instead of 2 years, paying about 25 pounds more a month, but turns out to be worth it. Still 2 to go before we have to change.

If you still have 2 years to go on a 1.xxx% rate you should look to stop the overpayments. Put the overpayments into a savings account where you are earning 4+% then in 2 years time just take the lump sum from your savings to reduce your mortgage balance.

 

[Buxback]

I have a generic question about remortgaging. How do the calculation work?


Excel has quite a nice formula for the original payment, =pmt(rate / 12 , years * 12 , principle )

Now, when we remortgage next we will have been 7 years in, and we overpaid quite a bit.

What numbers would we need fort he formula at that point?
Rate is not going to be 1.5% again, but that's the easy bit to understand.
As term, do we use 25 again? Or should we use the 18 the banks think we think we have left? Or do they work on the new lower principle and work out a duration?
And as new principle, are we working on the number we will have left at that point?

When you're thinking about remortgaging after 7 years, here's what you need to consider:
Interest Rate: The rate won't be the same, so find out what the current rate is.
Remaining Term: You can stick with the original 25-year term or use the remaining years, like 18, if you prefer.
New Principal: This is the amount you'll owe after 7 years of payments.
With these details, you can calculate your new monthly payments. It's a good idea to chat with a Mortgage Broker in Swanland to get personalized advice and accurate figures based on your situation.

 

[sammyzsum]

Absolutely feel you on the challenge of rising interest rates! It can feel like an uphill battle. From what I gather, adjusting rates is a tool to manage inflation and the economy, but it's tough when it hits our wallets. However, speaking from personal experience, I've learned that the key is getting solid guidance before diving into a mortgage. I was lucky to have a great experience with a Mortgage Broker in Chelmsford – their expertise helped me choose a loan with terms and rates that matched my financial situation. Thanks to that, I've navigated the loan without any major hiccups over the years. Definitely recommend seeking expert advice upfront!