Should I shop around or stay put?

Q I have been tied to a rather unpleasant mortgage with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is coming to an end in October. I need a new mortgage.

The thing is, I hope to marry my girlfriend (if she says yes) and buy a house together outside town. At the moment I have a two-bed flat in Edinburgh, with a remaining mortgage of ?46,000.

As I might change the mortgage, I don't want to be tied in. Royal Bank of Scotland has offered me a fixed rate mortgage of 5.75% for two years with no redemption penalty. I can also add ?7,000 to it for some home improvements.

I am tempted to go for it with them, but is this wise? To be honest I can't be hassled to search around for a better deal, apply (and maybe get turned down) unless I would save significant money. SB

A You are absolutely right to be wary of tying yourself into a deal when you know that both your personal circumstances and mortgage requirements may change in the near future - but that doesn't mean that you have to be stuck with what your current lender is offering you.

And a quick check of the mortgage Best Buys on the Moneyfacts website suggests that the deal you've been offered by the Royal Bank of Scotland isn't great.

However, a lot depends on fees you may have to pay to arrange a mortgage with another lender - especially if you go for a fixed, capped or discounted deal and also on how big a mortgage you want in relation to the actual value of your flat.

People wanting to borrow 75% or less of a property's value, for example, typically get a much better deal than those going for the biggest loan available and borrowing 95% or more of the value.

But to be honest, with all the variables involved, it's hard to say for definite whether you'd be better off changing lender not least because there's no point paying out a few hundred pounds to save a few hundred pounds - and it may be best to take the Royal Bank's offer.

If you'd rather know for sure that you've done the right thing, the best thing to do would be to spend the 20 minutes or so that it should take for a no-fee broker such as