Expat Remortgage Guide
We help British expats to remortgage their UK property whilst overseas.
Contact us today to speak with our experienced expat remortgage team.
Bespoke UK Remortgage Advice for Expats
Dolphin Finance is an independent, whole-of-market mortgage broker, specialising in UK expat mortgage advice to a global client base. We can provide mortgage advice on the entire range of mortgage and property financing products available in the UK.
We specialise in a broad range of mortgage lending to expat clients, from more straightforward mainstream mortgages to high-value complex and specialist property finance in both the residential and commercial space.
Whether you are a landlord looking for a specialist buy-to-let mortgage, a first time buyer or a developer looking for property development finance, you will benefit from our extensive market knowledge and unrivalled professional service.
Our team of experienced advisers will provide expert mortgage advice tailored to your specific circumstances. Whatever your property financing requirements, contact us today for a free initial consultation.
How Can we help Expats Remortgage their UK Property?
Dolphin Finance has extensive experience in helping UK expats remortgage their existing UK property.
We can advise clients with the following types of mortgages and scenarios:
- Remortgage for a residential property in the UK for an expat living overseas
- Expat remortgage of a buy to let property
- Remortgage for a property in the UK where the expat is planning to return to the UK
An initial 15-minute consultation with one of our brokers will enable us to determine your position and present you with a range of detailed options to consider, with no obligation.
Applying for a UK mortgage for an expat living overseas can be a challenging and daunting prospect. As an expat, your choice of lenders will be more limited, as many major banks and lenders will not consider applications from non-UK residents or foreign nationals.
However, much will depend on your personal circumstances, and we maintain an extensive network of relationships with specialist lenders and private banks who have a lot of experience in more complex cases.
Why use Dolphin Finance for your Expat Remortgage?
Dolphin Finance understand that buying a property in the UK can be a complicated and challenging process for an expat or foreign national, especially if you live in a different time zone.
Whether you are an expat living in Singapore looking to buy an investment property in the UK, or to refinance an existing property, we will guide you through the mortgage financing process.
Dolphin Finance are one of the leading independent expat mortgage brokers, and our team is ready to help you at every stage of the property financing process, wherever you may be located.
We don´t work a typical 9 to 5. Our expat broker team are experienced expats themselves and understand the challenges and needs of good communication throughout the mortgage application process.
Our goal is to find the right mortgage for your particular needs and requirements, and to be by your side from the start to finish.
Contact us today for a free initial consultation.
What is the Process of Remortgaging my UK Property as an Expat?
Step 1.
Enquire online via our website - you can either call or email us, or arrange a callback at a time convenient for you.
Step 2.
Initial consultation - after a thorough understanding of your needs, we will find the perfect mortgage for you.
Step 3.
We'll arrange all of the paperwork for you - we will work efficiently and proactively all the way to completion.
Remortgaging a UK property as an expat living abroad can be a challenging prospect. As a general rule, expats have a more limited choice of lenders, as many major banks and lenders will not consider applications from non-UK residents or foreign nationals.
This is where Dolphin Finance comes in. We are a specialist expat mortgage broker, and our team is ready to help you at every stage of the property financing process, wherever you may be located. All of our mortgage advisers are CeMAP qualified, with experience of helping expats provide financing for their UK property.
Whether you are a British expat working overseas, or a foreign national looking to refinance an investment property in the UK, our goal is to help you to obtain a mortgage that is right for you.
Expat Remortgage Guide
Remortgaging involves the process of swapping the mortgage with your current lender to a different lender. You are not moving home, just moving your mortgage.
This is a common process amongst homeowners, who can make sure that they can get the best deal available to them on the mortgage market.
Most mortgage deals last from between 2 and 5 years. Homeowners will need to remortgage when they are coming towards the end of their current deal, to avoid reverting to their current lender’s default rate, known as the ‘standard variable rate’ (or ‘SVR’).
By arranging a new mortgage deal before your current deal expires you can avoid your current lender’s SVR and also avoid any early repayment charges.
As we will see, there are a variety of reasons why homeowners choose to remortgage. When people remortgage they often take the opportunity to raise capital at the same time, for home improvements, or perhaps to consolidate existing debt.
What is an Expat Remortgage?
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Remortgaging involves the process of swapping the mortgage with your current lender to a different lender. You are not moving home, just moving your mortgage.
This is a common process amongst homeowners, who can make sure that they can get the best deal available to them on the mortgage market.
Most mortgage deals last from between 2 and 5 years. Homeowners will need to remortgage when they are coming towards the end of their current deal, to avoid reverting to their current lender’s default rate, known as the ‘standard variable rate’ (or ‘SVR’).
By arranging a new mortgage deal before your current deal expires you can avoid your current lender’s SVR and also avoid any early repayment charges.
As we will see, there are a variety of reasons why homeowners choose to remortgage. When people remortgage they often take the opportunity to raise capital at the same time, for home improvements, or perhaps to consolidate existing debt.
How much can I Borrow as an Expat?
The maximum amount that you can borrow on an expat mortgage will depend from lender to lender, and on your individual circumstances (based on your application using the lending criteria set out above).
Most lenders will make you a mortgage offer based on an income multiple. These multiples will generally be between 4 and 5 times income, but some expat mortgage lenders will have stricter rules for expats and limit your borrowing to 3 times income.
In addition, there will be an affordability assessment carried out by the lender, to ensure that the borrower is in a position to make the mortgage repayments.
Due to the unique nature of expat mortgages, the best way to find the best mortgage for your circumstances is to speak with a specialist expat mortgage broker.
What are the Reasons for Remortgaging my Home as an Expat?
Remortgaging can potentially save you money on your monthly mortgage payments
If your existing expat mortgage deal has ended, then your current lender will place you on their SVR, which will normally be a higher rate than you were previously paying. By remortgaging with a new lender, you will almost certainly be able to secure a better deal than your current lender’s SVR and reduce your monthly repayments.
Depending on when you bought your property, and how much of the capital you have repaid, it is possible you could remortgage to a better deal and secure a lower interest rate.
This is because the Loan to Value ratio (‘LTV’ ratio) may come down from the date that your current mortgage deal commenced. This is a key factor that lenders look at when considering the risk profile of a borrower – the lower the LTV, the lower the perceived risk, and the better mortgage deals offered to that borrower.
The LTV will be even lower if the value of your property has increased since you bought it. However, bear in mind that if the value of your property has decreased since you bought it, the loan to value ratio could have increased, and you may struggle to find a better deal.
Remortgaging to a fixed rate can give you financial security
One of the key reasons that homeowners remortgage after their current deal ends is to secure a new fixed rate deal which provides certainty in relation to their monthly mortgage repayments.
This may be especially important in today’s current interest rate environment, where mortgage interest rates have been increasing in recent months.
By opting for a fixed rate interest mortgage deal, you could save money if there are any future interest rate rises (although if interest rates fall, then there is the possibility that you could be paying a higher rate of interest rate until your deal expires).
In addition, by switching from a variable rate to a fixed rate, your repayments are fixed and predictable, enabling you to better budget for your monthly outgoings.
Remortgage to overpay your Expat Mortgage
Another reason to remortgage your property is to overpay your expat mortgage by making a lump sum payment and to reduce your mortgage debt.
Most mortgage contracts allow the borrower to repay up to 10% of the outstanding loan amount a year to reduce their mortgage, without any penalty.
However, if you have substantial savings, or perhaps have received an inheritance, and would like to pay off a larger percentage of your mortgage, then a remortgage could achieve this goal. This reason can be particularly
Not only will you be able to reduce your monthly repayments, but also pay a lower rate of interest on the remaining mortgage debt as a result of benefitting from a lower loan to value ratio.
Take advantage of flexible mortgage features
- As a borrower’s circumstances change over time, they may wish to benefit from certain feature of a flexible mortgage that their current lender does not offer. Some of the features included in so called ‘flexible mortgages’ include the following:
- Repayment holidays: the ability to take short mortgage payment breaks, without any penalties.
- Mortgage overpayments: if you have extra disposable income, then you may want to use this to make an overpayment on your mortgage repayments.
- Offset mortgage: if you have a savings account, then you may want to link this to your mortgage to reduce your monthly mortgage payments.
Depending on the benefit, you may have to pay a little extra in the way of interest for these additional features, but for some borrowers, this may be worth it for the increased flexibility.
Remortgage to increase borrowing
One of the most popular reasons for remortgaging a home with a different lender is to raise capital from the equity in your home. This may be possible if the homeowner has built up additional equity in their home, by reducing the outstanding capital balance of the mortgage, or perhaps by a rise in the value of the property.
However, if you are planning to increase the borrowing, the new lender will undertake an affordability assessment to ensure that the new repayments will be affordable.
We will look at the main reasons that borrowers increase their borrowing with a remortgage in the following section.expatex
Remortgage Advice FAQs
A remortgage works by replacing your existing mortgage with a new mortgage from a different lender. At completion of the remortgage process, the new lender will pay off the existing debt to your current lender and securing the new mortgage against your home. You will then start to make your monthly mortgage payments to the new lender.
You can start the remortgage process up to 6 months before the mortgage deal with your current deal expires.
Dolphin Finance recommends seeking remortgage advice as early as possible to ensure that we can all the paperwork is in good order and that there will be no surprises when it comes to submitting your application.
When your existing mortgage arrangement expires, lenders will normally automatically move your mortgage repayments onto the lender’s standard variable rate. This is their default rate, and is invariably more expensive than any other offer you could find on the open market.
This is why it is recommended to prepare to start the remortgage process several months in advance, and arrange to get a new deal in place in good time before your current arrangement finishes.
Yes, you will need a solicitor to handle all of the legal formalities, including removing the old lender from the charges register and adding the new lender. Some mortgage lenders will offer a free legal service as part of their remortgage offer.
Yes, it is still possible to remortgage your home with bad credit. Much will depend on your particular circumstances, your credit history, and the lending criteria of the lender. Dolphin Finance has relationships with specialist lenders who can assist borrowers to obtain a remortgage with bad credit history.
In theory, you can remortgage your home at any stage. However, in practice this would not be advisable. Remortgaging your property very early on into your current mortgage deal could mean you paying a significant early repayment charge.
Whenever you are considering a remortgage prior to your current deal expiring, you need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages ahead of time. Whilst you may be able to secure a better interest rate, the early repayment charges and other costs may exceed any savings in reduced interest payments over the term of the deal.
No, a remortgage of your home will not of itself adversely affect your credit score. However, your credit could be impacted if you decide to apply for a remortgage with several different lenders in a short period of time.
Each time you apply for any form of credit or loan, this is recorded in your credit file, and all subsequent lenders can see that. If you have applied for a remortgage and been rejected, then this will adversely affect your credit score.
When you use Dolphin Finance for your remortgage, we will search the whole of the market for the most suitable remortgage product for your circumstances. If you proceed with our recommendation, then we will apply for that mortgage on your behalf, and only that mortgage, thus keeping your credit score intact.
A remortgage involves arranging a new mortgage with a different lender. A Product Transfer involves taking out a new deal with your current lender. In some circumstances this may be advantageous, but it is always a good idea to shop around to make sure your lender is offering you a competitive deal.
