Mortgage Advice

Our sister company DNS consultancy has linked with Home and Away to provide you with the best service in relation to your mortgage needs. Here at DNS we will guide you through the maze of house purchase.

Have you ever thought about a mortgage but wanted to learn more about it before making a decision.
Are you a first time buyer looking for tailor made advice?
Are you afraid of high brokers’ fee and inappropriate advice which could leave you feeling ripped off.
Are you looking to remortgage in order to get a better deal and free up some cash to pay off debts and go on that dream holiday?

Whether you’re a first-time buyer, moving home or staying put and remortgaging, DNS can help you choose a suitable mortgage. We can help you find everything you need to know about how mortgages work, how you can work out what you can afford, and even make comparisons on your behalf in order to guarantee you the best possible deal to suit you. We like to think of it as mortgage without the hassle.

Answer:
A mortgage is like any other kind of loan – you borrow money, and you pay it back with interest over a period of time. But it has one key difference: it’s secured against your home. So if for any reason you can’t repay it, the lender can sell your home to recover their money.

Answer:
Unfortunately there’s no right or wrong answer to this question as an application process can take anything from 3 to 6 months. The turnover time will be different for each individual and depend on:

How accurate is the information provided by the borrower? Insufficient or inaccurate information will cause delays.
Which Lender are you applying to? Some lenders have a shorter turnover time than others.
Sometime it also depends on the actual deal. Some deals are exclusively offered to certain types of customers or franchises.
The time of the year at time can also have an impact

Answer:
There are 2 types of repaying a mortgage. You can either choose to pay it back by a repayment method, interest only or a combination of both.

Every month, your payments to the lender go towards reducing the amount you owe as well as paying the interest they charge. So each month you're paying off a small part of your mortgage.

The pros: It's a simple, clear approach - you can see your loan getting smaller.

The cons: In the early years your payments will be mainly interest, so if you want to repay the mortgage or move house in the early years, you'll find that the amount you owe won't have gone down by very much.

As the name suggests, your monthly payment only pays the interest charges on your loan – you're not actually reducing the loan itself. This is why it's very important you arrange some other way to repay the loan at the end of the term; for example, through an investment or savings plan. If you choose this option you will need to check that your investment or savings plan grows accordingly, so that at the end of the term you'll have enough money to pay off the loan. If it doesn't grow as planned, you will have a shortfall and you'll need to think about ways of making this up.

The pros: Because you're only paying off the interest, and not the loan itself, your monthly payments will be lower.

The cons: That debt is not going to go away. Throughout the life of the mortgage, you'll need to check your investment or savings plan is on track to repay your loan at the end of the term. If you can't repay it at the end of the term you could lose your home.
So, choosing a repayment or interest-only mortgage is one decision. The other will be to choose the interest-rate deal.

Remortgaging is a good way to escape from the standard variable rate mortgage deals offered to customers after their initial mortgage deal has expired. These standard rates are often much higher than the rates that lenders offer to new customers.

It can also be a good way to raise funds for an expensive purchase or to repay expensive credit card debts and loans. If you have owned your property for a number of years, it could be worth much more than your outstanding mortgage, giving you valuable equity to release for home improvements, repaying other debts or even to use as a deposit on a second property.

Remortgaging may also appeal if you think interest rates will rise. You can take advantage of today’s low rates by ‘fixing’ your mortgage repayments.

If you are looking to consolidate debt, initial savings may be achieved by re-arrangement of existing loans, which may result in extending the term of loan and in turn increase the total cost in some circumstances.

Remortgaging your home could enable you to make the following improvements to your life:

• The holiday you have always wanted
• A new car
• Consolidate your debts
• Home Improvements
• School fees
• Or a straightforward swap to give you more competitive monthly repayments or benefits

Lenders have a duty of care towards customers and therefore like to lend responsibly. This means that they should consider whether you can keep up the mortgage repayments now and throughout the term of the mortgage; for example after an initial discount period ends. They should base this on things like your income, expenditure and other circumstances.

Mortgage lenders have traditionally offered to lend up to three-and-a-half times your salary (before tax). If you’re buying as a couple they would normally include the smaller earner’s salary x 1.
Alternatively, many lenders have offered a couple’s total salary x 2.5.

If you have other money coming in, such as bonuses, overtime or commission. However, since it isn’t guaranteed income, lenders may only take into account half of this money.

If you already have lots of expenses, such as other loan payments, they will offer you less.
Recently it has become more common for lenders to make an affordability assessment when calculating how much they are prepared to lend you. Each lender will have its own method, but generally they will all try to calculate your disposable income, taking account of:

If you have received advice from a mortgage broker, the firm advising you must recommend a mortgage that you are able to afford. Whether you receive advice or not, the lender must still lend responsibly.

Answer:
In order for your mortgage application to be successful the applicant needs to have a decent credit rating. Like any other credit/loan arrangement the lender (bank/building society) will carry out a credit check (via credit agencies) which will identify the status of your credit rating.

The outcome of this check will determine the interest rate you will be offered. For example, a person with an adverse credit rating will most likely have to take a higher interest rate as they are deemed to be more risky for lender.

The lender will also amongst other searches the lender will search to see if the borrower has any county court judgements (CCJ’s) registered against them and if there are currently registered as bankrupt.

Unfortunately for those who fall under these categories will find it extremely difficult to get a mortgage from any lender but it not impossible.

Tip: When applying for a mortgage please answer all questions honestly and do not lie about the fact that you may currently be bankrupt or have been bankrupt in the past. This will come up in the lenders check and the application will be declined or rejected. Most adviser charge an arrangement or an application fee which will not be refundable should this happen.

There are lots of company that do mortgages for people with adverse credit rating or CCJ’s registered against them. They interest rate will be higher in comparison to the normal high street lenders such as Barclays and Nationwide.

It's crucial to talk to your lender as soon as possible otherwise you could risk losing your home. You may be able to come to an agreement with them, such as a payment plan, and avoid more serious problems.

It may be a good idea to get some free and independent advice before making any major decisions. Various agencies specialize in dealing with financial difficulties and can help you plan how to solve your problems.

Life insurance is about providing some financial security for people who depend on you if you died. (So if you don't have a partner, spouse or civil partner, children, or other dependants, you may not need life cover.) To make sure you buy the right amount of cover, with the right terms and conditions, you should consider getting some advice.

The adviser assesses what your family would need, and shops around for the cover that suits you best. Always answer questions as best you can and disclose any existing medical conditions when asked. If you don't give the full facts, you could invalidate your policy and the insurance company won't pay out.

There are two main types of life insurance: term insurance and whole-of-life insurance.
Term insurance (also called term assurance) pays out only if you die within a certain term, and whole-of-life insurance pays out whenever you die. Some whole-of-life policies also contain an investment element to them, but such investment-type policies cost a lot more than protection-only insurance.

Critical illness cover (CIC) pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with certain illnesses. The illnesses covered will be specified in the policy along with any exclusion – these differ between insurers. CIC policies usually only pay out once, so are not a replacement for income.

There is no right length (term) to a mortgage. The standard term is around 25 years, and most of us tend to have a mortgage throughout our working lifetime. With the large sums involved, this spreads the cost and makes your monthly payments more manageable. However, you can choose a different term if it suits you and the lender agrees that you can afford it. If you can afford a shorter term you may have higher monthly payments but pay less in total (see table below). With a longer term, you may pay less each month but more in total.

Try not to make financial commitments that go past the age you retire unless you're sure you'll be able to afford the payments.

You can make appointment by calling our office today on 02089036330 or on 07958294090 to make an appointment with our broker. As with all our services we can offer a free initial consultation without any obligation to discuss what you have in mind and to answer any questions you may have.

Our brokers are fully qualified and are appointed representative of Home&Away who are regulated by the Financial services Authority.