mc30b

I have recently relocated to Saudi and have a mortgage on my UK property where the fixed rate deal expires at the end of August.

I contacted my broker about the best deals available to remortgage and he said that I am best staying with my current mortgage lender unless their rate is horrific. He has tried to place Saudi Earners in the past and it proved really difficult because of the lenders ethics committees being reluctant to accept funds earned in Saudi.

Does anybody have any experience of remortgaging a UK mortgage whilst in Saudi and whether my broker is right?

Thanks very much.

Meow

It is entirely possible to remortgage a UK property whilst you are non-resident, provided there is sufficient equity and you have been in your current role with a known (perferably international) company for a while.

I can put you in touch with the UK mortgage brokesr I refer my clients to if you would like to contact me. He deals with expats on a regular basis so knows which lenders can actually assist. Info on link in my siganture.

Banks and ethics? Really?

sicklyman

yes... I would assume the OP is referring to the Co-Operative bank. As I bank with them, I'd be interested to know if this is the case mc30b.

mc30b

Actually no,nothing to do with the Co-Op. The broker thought generally Saudi would be considered a risky jurisdiction to lend into and so would be avoided by UK banks.

Victor Meldrew

Sorry to (partly) hijack the thread but to similarly echo the OP:

We work in Dubai and have just put our UK house on the market with a plan to move to another city in UK and 'port' the mortgage we have (a repayment mortgage with Halifax). We are in UK for Summer and visited the Halifax to discuss the practicalities of porting the mortgage to the new house.

We were told that 'due to recent governement legislation/policy the Halifax are no longer going to provide mortgages for expats'

Our current mortgage is OK provided we stay in the same house, but if we move, as it would be a new purchase the mortgage could not be carried across and we could not get another one with them.

Having a very healthy credit and mortgage record with the Halifax since 1982 I was not impressed by this news and have an appointment to see someone else there tomorrow.

Bankers!

Victor Meldrew

Just been back to Halifax this morning. Definitely no possibility of working round it other than one of us living in UK, or changing status to resident (which then means paying tax on income).

Been to a mortgage adviser today who works for Countrywide. He is going to try and find something.

Very frustrating.

Victor Meldrew

Meow - will email you.

Meow

I'm on to it chaps, but my contact is in the UK so unlikely to be working today.

Please bear with me.

Victor Meldrew

The mortgage adviser for Countrywide came back today to say he cannot find us a mortgage provider from his bank of companies. He advised approaching HSBC and Barclays (which I intend to to do tomorrow) but seemed to think that, unless you get paid in a recognised 'safe' currency (ie USD, GBP or Euros) there would be little chance.

Still very frustrating, but seems to be showing a developing trend of making things difficult for expats who want to invest or have money dealings in UK.

Meow

Interesting. My contact has had a few days off, but I think he's back today so I'll mail you as soon as I hear anything x

Meow

I said he was back today and he starts early.

The response is both are possible depending on specifics.

There are certainly lenders who will deal with expats, but few UK mortgage brokers will come across such senarios so don't have the contacts.

I'll email both posters with info this morning, once I've had my coffee