Ask the experts

About our experts...

At John Charcol, we are constantly asked for advice by borrowers on what they should do when it comes to mortgages.  As such, we created this section so that you can submit your questions to our experts.  The answers are provided by a number of people who have years of experience in the mortgage market.  The team is led by Peter Woodward who works in our technical department.  Peter spent his formative years as an underwriter with one of the major UK lenders so what he doesn't know, quite frankly, isn't worth knowing...

So please do submit your question and we will do all we can to answer it as quickly as possible

Please be aware that these answers can only be generic and no personal recommendations can be made.


Posted on 11 February 2009

My husband and I are in our 4th year of an IVA and our fixed rate mortgage ended in January so we are now on the variable rate. We bought the house in 2001 for £43,000 but have a secured loan of £36,000 when we had the house...

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Category: Bad credit, Consolidation of debts, Remortgaging, Secured loans


Posted on 13 May 2008

My ex boyfriend is selling the flat we lived in in West London. We are on very good terms and have been working together on getting it ready for sale. It was bought in 2000 for 72k and is now worth around 153,000. The mortgage...

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Category: Bad credit, Secured loans


Posted on 12 January 2008

Hi, help needed urgently please. Our fixed rate with mortgage express ends at the end of March 2008, which consists of a balance of £138,000 interest only and we have a secured loan with yesloans and mortgages. To clear this one...

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Category: Bad credit, Secured loans


Posted on 3 January 2008

We made the mistake of taking a homeowner loan out against our property and it's proving quite expensive. I want to put this, plus the credit cards into one mortgage payment. Our house is worth approx £115,000 and we would need a...

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Category: Remortgaging, Secured loans


Posted on 29 October 2007

Please can you Help. We have a £85,000 mortgage with the Abbey, fixed for another 6 months, and took out a loan for 25,000 with First Plus, what a mistake, to pay off credit cards etc. We now have to move with my husbands job. We...

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Category: Buy-to-let, Remortgaging, Secured loans


Posted on 13 October 2007

Is it possible to take out a secure loan on an interest only mortgage?

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Category: Secured loans


Posted on 3 August 2007

I need to borrow some money roughly, £10,000 to do some home improvements on my property that i own outright (value around £190,000).  I am 48 so not sure if i should take out a secured or unsecured loan as I'm on a...

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Category: Remortgaging, Secured loans, Self-certification


Posted on 30 July 2007

We have a £65,000 mortgage on a property worth around £125,000.  We also have a secured loan for a further £65,000 which is £630 per month.  Would it be in our interest to re-mortgage rather than pay this ever...

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Category: Remortgaging, Secured loans


Posted on 24 July 2007

I have just finished building a house.  I borrowed £94,000 against the land value which I got in a lump sum before I started building. To date I have spent approx £150k and the house is finished - it has recently been valued...

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Category: Remortgaging, Secured loans


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