This is such an odd success story but how can I not post it? It is one of those stories that it is quite unlikely we will repeat it again as it happened partly due to what we did but we could only do what we did because of the rising interest rates. It is still a nice story for our customer non the less.
History of this case
The customer came to us is 2018 originally. Their circumstances were like nothing we had come across before. They had been abroad for 5 years working. They then came back and set up being self employed and only had 13 months trading. Surprisingly we managed to get them the second best deal on the market at the time. We were able to do this by getting an exception made due to some things we could use in the customers favour.
They then came back to us in 2020. I think we all know what was going on back then so we did the customer a product transfer with their original lender to make life easier. That was a 3 year fixed rate which comes to an end in November this year. This is where this case gets interesting!
2022 and the mini budget
As you might recall rates started to increase in around March 2022 and then in September 2022 after the mini budget rates rocketed!
The customer panicked a little (understandably) and we secured them a Product Transfer with their current lender. But we told them not take it out. It could just sit there as a little insurance policy. If rates increase further they can complete on it, if they dont we can cancel it.
4 months later, the dust had settled and we were able to apply for a new product at the same rate as the previous product we secured but with an extra 4 months insurance. We did not want to complete however as the rate was higher than their existing deal (which runs until November this year). It would incur and early repayment charge.
4 months later and in June we were able to switch their Product Transfer over to a new product, a cheaper rate! We were also able to let it sit there for another 4 months which takes us up until October. 1 month before their ERC period ends which is a bit frustrating.
The situation now
So here we are now… The customer has the option:
- Complete on the product we secured back in June (3.6%) and pay a £1,500 Early repayment charge, but save £110 a month on the deals that are currently available now.
- Secure a new deal now and avoid the ERC but pay the extra £110.
The sums here make it a really easy decision to make…
£110 per month over 5 years (60 months) is £6,600. That is how much they will be saving by taking out the older deal, but they will also have to pay around £1,500 in early repayments charges. That £6,600 then becomes £5,100.
In the last 11 months, we have done 3 product transfers for this client. We have not charged them a penny for any of them and nor will we doing for the one they are completing on in October.
Summary
I think this is a nice example of where we can show a broker adds value. We always try to look after our customers. Where customers choose to come back to us we also try to keep on top of things and help to save them money.
This is one of those exceptional cases where we were caught in the customers deal nearly ending at a time where rates were going up quickly. It is unlikely this will happen again. We have other similar examples where we have been able to keep on top of Product transfers as rates are going up. This helps to ensure the customer gets the best deal possible. However this is probably one of the biggest savings we have been able to secure over the years.