HSBC Mortgage Offer and Interest Rate

General Chat
1

Hi all,

Just asking incase anyone may know, or has been in the same situation before.

I recently made an offer on my first house and was accepted!

I have applied for a mortgage with HSBC and received an offer back last month, today I heard the base rate has increased again.

Do you any of you know if the mortgage offer rate will stay the same for me, since they accepted my application, or is it likely increase, or I will need to re-apply ?

Thanks for any advice!

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2

Speak to HSBC for a definitive answer I would suggest

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3

I agree, youā€™ll need to speak with HSBC. Sometimes offers have terms attached to them, for example only valid for X weeks.

5

I think regardless of what the offer says, you need to be prepared for it to change.

With mine the solicitors found an error with the offer I was given and a new offer had to be sent out. The rate changed between the two offer letters being sent.

Anything could happen between now and completion.

6

I had my NatWest mortgage approved and Iā€™m sure interest rates went up twice before I actually ā€œhadā€ the money and my rate didnā€™t change.

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7

As others say, it depends.

If itā€™s a decision in principle, itā€™s non binding.

If itā€™s an application, whether you were then made an offer or not, itā€™s binding up until the offer expiry, which will be listed in the offer. Itā€™s usually 6 months, but can be less.

You should know whether you made an application, because:

  • itā€™s not instantaneous, the underwriter performs checks and reviews your documents.
  • the lender may ask for a valuation of the property, which may come with a fee.
  • the mortgage itself may have a product fee.
  • if successful youā€™ll receive a letter or email letting you know the details of your account

So if youā€™ve paid a ā€œproduct feeā€, or a ā€œvaluation feeā€ or you have an account number, or an underwriter has reviewed documents. Your rate is safe.

As I mentioned, there will be an expiry date. It should be listed on your offer terms (the document that outlines your rate, fees, property details etc).

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8

Thank you all for your help, really appreciate the replies.

@danbeddows Yeah it is a proper application, it took about a week for them to approve, I have had a look through my emails and found the document that says the offer is valid for 6 months.

It doesnā€™t say what happens in the event of a rate change, but I will just go with it and assume I get the rate from when I applied.

I did another quote on their website and it works out to about Ā£50 extra a month, if HSBC force me on the new rate. Hopefully not! but not as bad as I thought it would be.

Thanks all

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9

The rate youā€™ll get wonā€™t change even if the base rate changes within the six months. But you must complete the purchase before the mortgage offer expires.

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10

Sorry, I should clarify/retract what I said before. Iā€™ve just gone back to check the offer letters I was sent.

The interest rate remained fixed across both offer letters when my offers were rekeyed, however both letters also provided a projection of what the mortgage would look like in the future once the fixed rate ended and I fell back to the standard variable rate. The current rate moved from 3.74% to 3.99%, but obviously what Iā€™d actually fall back to at the end of the fix could look very different.

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