Barclays looks to boost remortgage market

Barclays is continuing to encourage even more borrowers sitting on standard variable rate mortgages to move to a better rate, by extending the loan to value on its popular ‘Woolwich Great Escape' remortgage package to 80 per cent loan to value from 6th January 2011.

The ‘Great Escape' loan to value was extended from 70 to 75 per cent in November 2010, and is now being extended to 80 per cent loan to value. The new competitive package is a lifetime tracker mortgage at base +3.18 per cent. The 70 and 75 per cent (LTV) deals remain at base +2.38 per cent and base +2.58 per cent respectively. In addition, borrowers can also take advantage of "Great Escape" fixed rate deals which continue to be priced at 3.28 per cent (70 per cent LTV) and 3.48 per cent (75 per cent LTV).

Andy Gray, head of mortgages for Barclays said: "Our latest estimate is that there are still 800,000 borrowers who are sitting on lenders standard variable rates (SVRs) who could benefit from switching. With the start of the New Year, this is an ideal time for people to review what rate they are on and take action now to cut the cost of their monthly mortgage payments. It's predicted that base rate will remain at 0.50 per cent for the majority of 2011, so anybody delaying the decision to ditch SVR will continue to pay much more than they need to this year.

"The ‘Great Escape' package removes the fees for borrowers, so they can switch across from their current lender without being out of pocket. This has already proved popular as our remortgage applications have jumped by over 40 per cent, freeing thousands of borrowers from their SVR, saving them £11million over the next two years."

All ‘Great Escape' deals are aimed at borrowers who worry it would cost them too much to move to better rates elsewhere. They come with no application fee, free legal work and valuation and £300 cashback to cover the cost of a borrower's exit fee for leaving their present lender.

Borrowers also taking up a tracker deal have the flexibility to switch to a fixed rate whenever they choose, without paying an Early Repayment Charge (ERC). The "Switch & Fix" feature launched in July 2010 continues to be popular with borrowers as they benefit from a tracker whilst base rates are low but have the security of being able to switch to a fixed rate should they become concerned about future interest rate rises.

In addition to the extension of the ‘Great Escape', Barclays is also cutting the rate on its key Offset mortgage by 0.50 per cent. The Offset deal at 70 per cent (LTV) will change from base + 2.99 per cent to base +2.49 per cent.

For more information on Woolwich mortgages from Barclays, visit barclays.co.uk/mortgages.