The FINANCIAL — As the market sees more demand from borrowers wanting to remortgage, Barclays today extends its range of Woolwich remortgage deals to 85 per cent loan to value (LTV).
This includes the popular ‘Great Escape’ package, encouraging even more families to cut their mortgage payments now in readiness for predicted base rate rises later in the year.
The ‘Great Escape’, launched in October 2010 and extended from 75 to 80 per cent LTV in January this year, is now being extended to 85 per cent LTV to help even more borrowers who are sitting on their lenders standard variable rate (SVR). The new 85 per cent LTV rate is 4.69 per cent fixed for two years. The two year fixed rates at 70 and 75 per cent LTV, which were cut by up to 0.15 percentage points last week, remain unchanged at 3.74 per cent and 4.04 per cent respectively.
All ‘Great Escape’ deals come with no application fee, free legal work and valuation and £300 cashback to cover the cost of a borrower’s exit fee for leaving their present lender. For borrowers who want to opt for their own solicitor, the same rates are now available with £375 cashback, to help with legal costs, in place of the free legal work available on the Great Escape deals.
Families who want to remortgage up to 85 per cent LTV are not restricted to ‘Great Escape’ but can opt for new three and five year ‘Switch and Save’ deals also launched today, providing free legal work and a valuation or £200 cashback. The three year fixed rate is priced at 4.99 per cent with a £499 application fee and the five year at 5.69 per cent with a £999 application fee. The new five year equivalent for existing current customers who qualify for a Barclays loyalty mortgage is 5.48 per cent (£999 application fee).
Andy Gray, head of mortgages for Barclays said: “Since we launched ‘Great Escape’ last year remortgaging has increased from a third of mortgage approvals in the market to almost half. Barclays remortgage deals are proving a real hit amongst borrowers who are planning ahead in anticipating a rise in base rate. Customers who have already taken advantage of the Great Escape deals will save £28 million in mortgage payments over the next two years and have been able to switch across from their current lender without being out of pocket on fees.
“It’s widely predicted that base rate will increase this year so it’s important that borrowers take action this summer to secure low mortgage rates while they are still available. Over £28 billion of fixed rate mortgages will mature over the next few months, adding to the one million families already on standard variable rates. Our Great Escape fixed rate mortgages allow customers to lock in their payments at a level below or around the rate they will be paying on SVR, saving them money now and even more in the future as rates rise. By extending ‘Great Escape’ to 85 per cent LTV we are giving even more people the opportunity to benefit from these products.”
Huge savings can be made for the thousands of borrowers on their lenders SVR, for example someone with a mortgage of £150,000, switching from an SVR today at 4.69 per cent to the new Woolwich Great Escape 2 year fixed rate at 4.69 per cent (85 per cent LTV) could save over £3100 if base rate moves as forecast over the next two years*. Borrowers with thirty per cent equity in their property could opt for the 3.74 per cent ‘Great Escape’ deal, saving them an estimated £5498 over the next two years.
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