Always consider a second charge as an alternative

A remortgage isn't always the best option

Situation: The customers were looking to remortgage to raise the funds to consolidate 10 credit cards, totalling £60,000.

Problem: The customers were passed to our mortgage department; however, when undertaking the fact find, the underwriter discovered that the customers were tied into their current mortgage plan for 2 years. This plan also meant a 2.5% early redemption charge (ERC), which would mean that a remortgage would end up being quite costly for the customers.

Solution: The case was passed over to our Secured Department, to look at a second charge, rather than facing the potentially hefty ERC. Once this was assigned to a Customer Relations Manager (CRM), they could see straight away that there were lending options available to the customer and booked a fact find to see which would be the most appropriate solution. 

An option to consolidate the £60,000 over 20 years, which had no ERCs was chosen for the customer. This was the best option for the customer because if they looked to remortgage when out of their 2 years, there would be no penalties for redeeming the loan early. Once the application documents were received back at Norton and submitted to the lender, the binding offer was issued the next working day. Once this was signed and returned to the lender, the customer was able to consolidate their credit cards into one manageable payment and avoided paying a large ERC to remortgage.