Can I Change My Home Loan?

The thought of changing your home loan could sound like a fantastic idea but you should be careful and remember that it is not as easy as it sounds. You need to always do your research and compare all the results that your research produces. Changing a home loan is something that is done frequently by many home owners. People do it for a variety of reasons; it could be to consolidate all your debts in order to be able to pay one creditor instead of many of them. Or it could even be that you want to see if you will be able to get a better rate from another institution.As with many other financial decisions you make, the key is to take your time. It is important to choose an option which is beneficial to you both on a long term and on a short term basis. It is as important as choosing the initial home loan agreement do not take it for granted.The most obvious thing to do that people often over look is to ask your current lender to negotiate the current rate before considering changing to another lender. This is a good idea because if you have a good track record you will be in a good bargaining position; chances are that the lender will be willing to negotiate a different rate with you. This is good because you will be able to save on what are known as exit fees and any penalties that were in your original agreement. You can save quite a lot of money if you decide to do this.In the event that you decide that it will be better to change your lender, your current lender will have to provide you with a letter of consent which will give you the go ahead to change your home loan. Without this letter you will not be able to begin the process of looking for a new loan because this letter contains all your particulars and the outstanding amount on the existing loan and your repayment history. Basically it contains all the information that a potential lender would need to know.Changing loans will cost you money. This is because lenders make their money from the interest they charge on loans. There is a long list of fees that you will have to pay when you want to change your home loan to a different lender. These fees include: the fees associated with the transfer, fees for the change itself, exit fees, a penalty known as early repayment, legal fees and the standard required application fees. This long list of fees is the reason that it is recommended that you should seriously consider renegotiating the current loan with your current lender but this only applies if you are looking at it from a short term point of view. However under normal circumstances, in the long run, the sum total of the fees you will pay should and will be much less than the savings that you make at the end of the repayment period.