I have my fingers crossed as always as when I first entered they just said there were no other rates which I suspected was due to the IVA, since then new rates have been available so hopefully they won't do a credit check again? Is it standard with an existing customer to do a credit check on the mortgage even just for fixing a rate and not advancing on it etc? I am a Santander customer for banking and savings too so not sure if that made a difference? (I was declined for overdraft though-not that I wanted one just wanted to help my credit record )
I don't think being a customer for other products would particularly make a difference - not in my experience anyway. Logic would suggest that, unless you are borrowing extra money and just want to switch to another rate, that it is pointless doing a new credit search because the lender isn't increasing their risk but, again in my experience, they do tend to run another credit search and this is where people seem to come a cropper. That said, if it worked for you last time, let's hope it does again and you don't really have anything to lose.
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Well, just a little update that I have just accepted a new mortgage conversion offer from Santander. I chose a new fixed rate deal using the online change your mortgage deal service (as I am in the final 4 months of my existing deal) and I have just completed the process so have secured a new fixed rate deal for the next 3 years (at 2% lower than SVR) so is definitely worth you trying with them to move onto a fixed rate deal. Although I completed with a full and final I am still within the 6 years of the IVA on my credit file (and my rating is still AWFUL) so shows you can possibly still get a better deal with Santander as an existing customer.
That is good news Lisa as I have seen people in IVAs discriminated previously. As the lender knows they cannot move their mortgage they have often refused new deals and left the clients on the standard variable rate. I have also seen it happen to people in negative equity when their credit files were spotless as again the lender knew they could not move their mortgage.
Perhaps I have just been lucky then but I'm not going to argue it, the new fixed rate deal saves me another £100 per month but I would advise anyone with Santander to perhaps try it if it worked for me! (Fingers crossed it remains ok!!)
We have recently just applied for a remortgage as like you was stuck on the SVR and had been for a few years since our IVA. We did some homework on our Credit files and got some defaults cleared up and only when they were all clear from ALL THREE credit ref agencies, CallCredit, Equifax and Experian, and the rating had improved did we try to apply using our Independent Financial Advisor.
It's really important to clean up your credit file and use that year after completion of your IVA to do this. It's really amazing to see how your file repairs itself.
However one bit of advice we are just trying to sort out now ourselves, is to get the Restriction removed from your mortgage title or it will be flagged up by your solicitors that you use for your remortgage. A small hurdle which could hold up the process and completion time.
