Why remortgaging matters
When your initial deal — fixed, tracker or otherwise — comes to an end, you're automatically moved onto your lender's Standard Variable Rate (SVR) unless you arrange something else. SVRs are usually significantly more expensive than any deal you'd actually choose on the open market, so letting your mortgage 'default' onto one, even for a few months, is rarely in your interest.
This is exactly why we get in touch around six months before your current deal ends — it gives plenty of time to review the market properly, understand your options, and lock something in before you're ever exposed to the SVR.
Even a short spell on the SVR — say, while you're deciding what to do next — can cost more than the time it would have taken to arrange a new deal in advance. There's rarely a good reason to let it happen by default.
When to start looking
Most lenders let you lock in a new rate 3–6 months before your current one ends, so starting the process around the six-month mark is usually the sweet spot — early enough to compare properly, but close enough that the offer won't expire before you need it.
If rates are falling, it's often possible to reserve a rate and then swap to a better one shortly before completion if something more competitive appears in the meantime — we'll keep an eye on this for you throughout, so you're not locked into a decision made too early.
Product transfer vs full remortgage
There are two broad routes when your deal ends, and the right one depends on your circumstances rather than one being automatically better.
We'll compare both routes for you rather than assuming one is automatically better — sometimes staying put with a product transfer genuinely is the right call, and we'll say so.
Product transfer
Switching to a new deal with your existing lender. Usually quick, with minimal paperwork and no new affordability assessment in many cases — but you're only seeing that one lender's rates.
Full remortgage
Moving to a different lender entirely. Involves more paperwork, and sometimes legal and valuation fees, but opens up the whole market to find a genuinely better deal.
Early repayment charges
Most fixed and tracker deals carry an early repayment charge if you remortgage before the deal ends — typically a percentage of your outstanding balance, which often reduces the closer you get to the end of the term. Timing your remortgage correctly avoids paying an early repayment charge unnecessarily.
Occasionally it's still worth paying an early repayment charge — for example, if rates have moved sharply and the savings from switching outweigh the charge — but this needs a proper calculation, not a guess. We'll run the numbers before recommending anything.
Releasing equity
If your property's gone up in value or you've paid down a good chunk of your mortgage, remortgaging can be a chance to release some of that equity — for home improvements, consolidating other debts, helping family onto the property ladder, or other plans.
It increases your loan amount and your monthly payments, and reduces your equity in the property, so it's worth thinking through carefully rather than treating it as a default option every time you remortgage. We'll talk through whether it genuinely makes sense for your situation.
If your circumstances have changed
Changed jobs, gone self-employed, had a change in income, added a dependant, or taken on new financial commitments since your last mortgage? It's worth flagging this early — it can affect which lenders are the best fit for you now, and we'd rather know upfront than discover it partway through an application.
