A remortgage (known as

refinancing Refinancing is the replacement of an existing debt obligation with another debt obligation under a different term and interest rate. The terms and conditions of refinancing may vary widely by country, province, or state, based on several economic ...

in the United States) is the process of paying off one

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

with the proceeds from a new mortgage using the same

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

. The term is mainly used commercially in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, though what it describes is not unique to any one country. Often the purpose of ''switching'' is to secure a more favorable

interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, t ...

from a different

lender A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some propert ...

. The process of remortgaging does not usually involve moving house or taking out a

second mortgage Second mortgages, commonly referred to as junior liens, are loans secured by a property in addition to the primary mortgage. Depending on the time at which the second mortgage is originated, the loan can be structured as either a standalone secon ...

on the property; it is in effect the transfer of a mortgage from one lender to another. Homeowners may choose to remortgage for various reasons, usually to reduce the overall monthly mortgage payment amounts. However, other reasons may include to reduce the size of repayments, to pay off a mortgage earlier, to raise capital, or to consolidate other more expensive short term debts. Home buyers often misuse the expression remortgage when they are simply switching from one product to another with the same lender; this is not a remortgage which involves the removal of one legal charge over a property and its substitution with another in favour of a new lender. The ability to remortgage is very much based on an individual's circumstances and as the costs involved can be very large, there may be

prepayment penalties Prepayment is the early repayment of a loan by a borrower, in part or in full, often as a result of optional refinancing to take advantage of lower interest rates.Lemke, Lins and Picard, ''Mortgage-Backed Securities'', Chapter 4 (Thomson West, 2013 ...

and other costs. People who remortgage are often advised to take advice from a suitably qualified individual. In the United Kingdom the majority of remortgage rates track the Bank of England base rate. The current base rate stands at 2.25%. The base rate was set at an historical low of 0.1% in March 2020. Due to these record low rates many people with an existing mortgage were able to remortgage their home from a higher rate onto a lower rate which could result in a saving on their monthly mortgage repayments.

References

Mortgage {{finance-stub