John Charcol: Seek a new mortgage sooner rather than later

Date:Friday 3rd October 2008
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Mortgage broker firm John Charcol has offered advice about when to start seeking a new mortgage deal.

In the first half of the year, clients were advised to begin searching six months before their current deal was due to expire.

John Charcol said this changed during a period of recovery in the market from July until a fortnight ago, especially for borrowers looking for a fixed-rate deal.

But as the money markets freeze up more, the advice now is to act "sooner rather than later".

John Charcol said that when a deal was secured, borrowers would still enjoy the benefits of expected bank rate cuts.

The firm added that anyone wanted to remortgage this year "should delay no longer".

According to new figures from the Bank of England, individuals put a net total of £2.8 billion into housing equity in the second quarter of 2008.

The revised estimate for the year's first quarter of net housing equity withdrawal was £5.2 billion.