A contractor’s guide to remortgages and remortgaging

Introduction

Remortgaging is a journey, but you don’t go anywhere – in fact you stay put in the same property you were in when you started.

Remortgaging onto a new rate with a new or existing lender to stay in your current home is a financially-led decision for contractors.

You’re already on the property ladder; aren’t looking to climb it by purchasing a new home but instead want to stay in your existing home in the most cost-effective way possible.

Remortgaging at the right time heads off both early repayment fees and falling onto your lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR). And avoiding the SVR is vital to avoid monthly repayments that might be up to 5% HIGHER than the Bank of England (BoE) base rate.

Want to be a shrewd contractor at remortgage time? You’ll need RMS…

Rest assured, this remortgaging guide for contractors and other flexible workers shares a few top tips our experienced brokers will happily go into more detail about with you.

And we’ve got the ultimate in remortgaging-savvy, too. It’s our new Rate Monitoring Service (RMS).

RMS lets you lock in a competitive rate up to SIX MONTHS in advance of your discounted terms ending. We’ll tell you if better rates come along, but you get a ‘safety net’ rate that you’re under no obligation to budge from.

Read more about how Rate Monitoring Service works here, or see section 6 below for how it should fit in to your mortgage strategy.

However, you should be aware that even this personalised service (that searches ALL mortgage deals — on and off the market) needs to be run in tandem with one of our brokers navigating you through the remortgaging maze.

So to support flexible workers like you, looking to remortgage onto a new deal with total peace of mind, we’ve put together this 7-part guide to remortgages and the remortgaging process.

It will answer the key questions facing you as you approach the end of your current deal:

1. What is remortgaging?
2. When should you remortgage?
3. How to remortgage?
4. What to be wary of when remortgaging?
5. What are the best practices to follow when remortgaging?
6. How to secure the best remortgage deal via the Freelancer Financials Rate Monitoring Service (RMS)?
7. What is the remortgage market outlook?

1. What is remortgaging?

Remortgaging is when you want to switch to a better home loan as part of staying in your existing bricks and mortar.

You may want a new lender; a new term or a new type of mortgage (‘fixed rate,’ ‘offset,’ ‘tracker’ to name just three we specialise in).

But in our experience, you definitely WILL want a new monthly repayment figure. And often, yet not always, it’s the rate that determines the repayment.

2. When should you remortgage?

Several months before your introductory fix rate or discounted terms end is the ideal time to remortgage.

It’s why we’ve programmed our Rate Monitoring Service to help contractors by trawling the market SIX MONTHS before introductory rates end.

Even if you don’t use the service, the key thing in the remortgaging process is to take action a quarter (or ideally two quarters) before your lender’s SVR is due to strike.

Interestingly, even if a broker doesn’t have a digital system like RMS installed, the reputable ones should have props in place to let you know that your two-year, three-year or five-year deal is approaching its final few months, pre-SVR.

But don’t leave it to the last. You need to leave time to actually apply for the mortgage, and remember if you’re a contractor — checks, form-filling and approvals take longer with a non-specialist in mortgages for flexible workers.

A ‘Product Transfer’ (that’s broker-speak for remortgaging with your current lender) usually takes less time than jumping to a new lender. But if you use any old broker off the high street, don’t hold us to this claim!

3. How to remortgage?

Remortgaging to a competitive rate to avoid being at the mercy of your lender’s SVR, to potentially save hundreds of pounds a month, sounds like a no-brainer.

But we recommend first reviewing your options in a one-to-one with your broker BEFORE you make any commitment to take out a new mortgage.

Is the broker’s trawl of the UK’s entire mortgage market on your behalf complete? Are your contractor-friendly deals on a shortlist? If so, try this remortgaging must-do trio:

Three remortgaging must-dos

1. Once the single best new deal for your circumstances has your broker’s backing, ask them to support you in the practicalities of applying for the mortgage
2. Prepare to dig out and send your income and contract details as part of filling in the application, bearing in mind that the lender now must assess your borrowing power
3. Assuming the remortgage is with a new lender, enlist a qualified solicitor to ensure all legal boxes are ticked. Some lenders offer this service for free

Following the completion of surveys, you’ll receive notification (in writing) that your outgoing mortgage on your property is settled, and that your incoming mortgage is agreed.

4. What to be wary of when remortgaging?

The three things to be wary of when remortgaging are Early Repayment Charges aka ERC, additional costs you may be faced with if you move to a new lender and the overall affordability of your new terms in relation to your income and outgoings.

Let’s look at each of these factors in turn:

What are Early Repayment Charges (ERC)?

Early Repayment Charges (ERC) are triggered if you remortgage before your existing mortgage product expires.

Some high-end flexible workers pay the ERC and still remortgage anyway!

But be aware, the more time left to go on the deal the higher that the ERC will be.

Early Repayment Charges aren’t the only costs that our brokers will include in running affordability calculations on your behalf, to determine if remortgaging will be VIABLE for you.

Additional costs

When moving to a new lender, you need to find out the total outlay required of you from:

• Mortgage Arrangement Fee (and any other ‘Product Fee’)
• Valuation Fee
• Legal Fee (some lender products insist on the borrower using their own conveyancer)

Is your remortgage affordable?

Crunch the numbers with a broker because these fees could, collectively, obliterate the interest you’re hoping to save by remortgaging in the first place!

If the numbers don’t stack up, consider increasing the term of your mortgage. While a longer term may increase how much you owe overall (due to interest), lowering the monthly repayment is often the priority of contractors we support with their remortgages.

But be aware — lenders will assess a multitude of factors, even including the applicants’ ages.

Your future financial plans need to be drawn upon too, so be sure to take a multi-faceted, IMPARTIAL view of your potential mortgage’s affordability for you and/or your family.

5. Best practice to follow when remortgaging

We recommend that you factor in these five best practices when remortgaging

1. Use a reputable mortgage broker who forensically know both contractors and mortgages will have access to deals that aren’t available on the high street
2. Explore fixed-rate deals if BoE base rate increases are predicted for the foreseeable, but first discuss all options with our experts before committing to any new home loan
3. Lenders often compete on rate alone, but be aware of other fees that may increase your overall cost, such as lender arrangement fees,
4. An increase in your home’s value might open up a remortgage on a lower loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, as you’ll be borrowing less in proportion to the property’s value
5. Better remortgage terms are invariably achieved when the risk to the mortgage lender is lower, such as thanks to good credit

6. How to secure the best remortgage deal? Use our Rate Monitoring Service (RMS)

The Freelancer Financials Rate Monitoring Service (or RMS) has been designed for contractors who want to remortgage with peace of mind that they are getting the best possible deal as their current fixed-term mortgages expires.

It provides certainty on future mortgage repayments without passing up the chance of moving to a better deal should it come onto the market up to six months before your current deal ends.

All RMS users receive a free consultation with one of our remortgage experts, who will discuss your personalised rate protection strategy, alongside market analysis and rate comparisons from EVERY mortgage product available in the UK.

By registering your details for our Rate Monitoring Service (RMS), you can:

• Lock-in a competitive rate up to SIX MONTHS before the end of your current deal (we call this your “safety rate”)
• Get notified by our broking team when a rate lower than your locked-in ‘safety rate’ is released on the market
• Stick with your ‘safety rate’ if rates increase or move to a more competitive deal up to two weeks before your current mortgage expires

Whichever way rates move – up, down or static, you’ll be on the best deal on offer in the six month window before your mortgage ends, AND you’ll avoid being falling onto your lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR)… which can be seriously damaging to your wealth.

It’s a win-win, but of course you have to register with us to get the benefit of this service.

View our Rate Monitoring Service video here for an overview of how it can give you peace of mind that you’re getting the very best remortgage deal for your precise circumstances.

7. What is the remortgage market outlook?

At the time of writing (June 2025), our current calculations are that 2% rates are not coming back on UK mortgages any time soon!

The volatility in the financial markets, currently being fuelled by policy-making from the United States, is leading to global economic fragmentation, increasingly subdued investor confidence and significantly lower risk appetite. We expect lenders in Britain to ‘catch this cold’ from the US imminently.

Therefore, we are advising contractors and other flexible workers not to leave their remortgaging, and in turn their future mortgage payments, to chance.

Don’t leave it to the markets. And definitely, definitely, don’t come under your lender’s SVR because your discounted terms expired, and you just sat and watched!

Remember, it takes seconds to sign up for our Rate Monitoring Service.

It’s a service dedicated to giving flexible workers with unpredictable income or unconventional earnings the best of both worlds — security against rises in this increasingly volatile world AND access to better rates up to two weeks before their introductory rate expires.

Here’s five final remortgaging tips for limited or umbrella company contractors, zero-hours contract workers, agency workers and locums… in fact anyone in the flexible labour workforce:

1. Act sooner rather than later. A rushed remortgage is to be avoided at all costs. You need a comfortable window to consult an expert, review the expert’s shortlist and get your mortgage application in order. The timeline for a ‘Product Transfer’ is shorter, but shouldn’t be underestimated.
2. Check your credit. Checking your credit rating pre-application to ensure no ‘black marks’ can pay dividends to contractors and other flexible workers later on, notably at the approval stage.
3. The devil is in the details. Take the time to check the terms and conditions. If you don’t understand the ‘Ts and Cs’ ENTIRELY, ask our advisers who will.
4. Use our Rate Monitoring Service. To avoid remortgage disappointment, contractors are entering their contact details here to lock in a competitive rate early using our Rate Monitoring Service (RMS). You’ll be under no obligation to relinquish this ‘safety net’ rate, but be equally free to move to a better one if a lender comes up trumps! At the same time, you get advice tailored to your unique contractor circumstances from our brokers, to ensure your remortgaging decision is nothing less than fully informed.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask. Our advisors are here to help, so just call 020 8421 7999 or contact us online and we’ll give you all the support you need to get your remortgage sorted, hassle-free.

Good luck with your remortgaging journey, we’ll see you safely to the “other side”.