Many people are coming out of fixed rate and tracker rate deals and finding themselves faced with their lenders standard variable rate (SVR) and wondering what their best move is. For anyone who is in this situation, here is a brief guide of important steps you should take.

Firstly, contact your current mortgage lender and ask them what new deals they are willing to offer you. They should have at least one and possibly a selection of fixed deals for you to chose from and possibly a tracker deal as well. You should be able to do this 2 or 3 months before your current deal expires, therefore ensuring you have time to make a decision and if need be source alternative finance.

Make a note of these available deals but don’t commit to any of them just yet. Whilst having this discussion with your lender, also confirm what rate you will switch to if you do nothing. Normally this will be your lenders SVR, but confirm this is the case as some lenders, for example Woolwich, will move you onto a _base_ rate tracker.

Once you are armed with this information, the next step should be to contact an independent mortgage broker. Be sure they are independent and can search the entire of the market to find the best deal available for you. It is best to avoid tied brokers who are restricted to only a few lenders, as you can never be sure that they will have the best deal for you. Again, this should be done 2 to 3 months before your current deal ends to ensure you have plenty of time to move lenders if need be and also to ensure you can take time to decide how best to proceed and don’t make a rash decision.

It can be difficult to know whether or not you can trust a broker, and some people are reluctant to use one on the grounds of this. I would think that the vast majority of brokers out there are honest and genuinely keen to help you. However, as a test of your broker’s integrity, call them and explain your situation without stating that you have spoken to your current lender. If your broker is truly looking out for your best interests, they should suggest that you contact your current lender and ask for the details of any deals they have offered you, as this is the benchmark for what they need to improve upon. If they do not suggest this, then perhaps you may wish to consider using another broker.

When you chat through your circumstances with your broker, they will discuss your long term plan with you in order to help you decide what sort of deals are most appropriate for your needs. This should also help you with deciding which of the offers made by your current lender is most suitable for your situation and also help them with their research into what mortgage products they should be looking at for you.

Once your broker has researched the market and found the best mortgage deals available, the broker will contact you and discuss them with you. Assuming they have found something more competitive that your current lender can offer, they will discuss the options they have discovered and help you decide which of the alternatives is your best way forward. If they haven’t found anything better than your current lender will offer you, they will tell you this and help you to decide which of your current lenders choices is best for you, which may well be doing nothing for the time being.

If you do not understand why the deal they are suggesting is better than what you have already been offered by your existing lender, ask them to explain. They should be able to do this and leave you feeling confident of why this is the case.

Once you know what your current lender will offer you and also the have the best deals alternative lenders will offer you, you are in a position to make an informed decision about how best to proceed and can make a decision with confidence that you are armed with the essential knowledge needed to make this decision.

To recap:

1. Contact your current lender 2 to 3 months before your current deal ends and see what options they will have for you.
2. Contact an independent mortgage broker and discuss your situation with them, remembering to use the above test of integrity.
3. Find out what mortgage deals the broker can obtain.
4. Take time to make a decision that best suits your needs.

If you follow these simple steps you can be confident that you have taken the best possible action to ensure you have the information and awareness needed to make the best decision.