Martin Wade of Mostly Mortgages, based in Maldon, Essex, says remortgage requests increase sharply at this time of year because many borrowers decide to consolidate their overdrafts, personal loans and credit cards.
He says: 'Many people like to start the year with a clean sweep. Switching can work even if there is a penalty on the old mortgage, as the savings may outweigh the costs.'
Karen Ritchie, of Cambridge-based independent financial adviser Finance4Women, says: 'Try your existing lender first to see if it can offer a better mortgage deal.
'If you're not asking for more money, then there should only be an arrangement fee. If you want more money, a valuation and possibly legal fees may be charged.
'If going to another lender, try to pick a fee-free deal to reduce the cost of switching. And watch out for any tie-ins and penalties on the new deal.'
Simon Tyler of Chase de Vere Mortgage Management says: 'A borrower with a standard variable rate with the Lambeth Building Society currently pays 5.94 per cent APR, one of the most expensive in the country.
'If they switched to the same society's two-year discount deal at 2.45 per cent, one of the best deals around, they would save £143 a month on a £100,000 repayment mortgage.'
Another option for reducing monthly repayments is to extend the term of your mortgage.
Wade says: 'This does cut repayments but is dangerous territory if you keep doing it. First-time buyers often take out a longer-term loan, such as 30 years, then, when more established - having built up equity in their home and perhaps having come to the end of a discount or fixed-rate period - they switch to a 25-year or shorter-term loan.'
Borrowers with repayment mortgages, where part of the capital is paid off each month as well as the interest, can choose to switch to paying off only the interest.
Wade says: 'We suggest this is only taken up by someone in temporary financial difficulties, but, as they are only paying off the interest and not the capital, it can save a borrower with a £100,000 mortgage more than £120 a month.'
It is not just your mortgage you can switch to release valuable savings.
Borrowers who took out term life insurance to support their loan some years ago may find they can save a fortune by shifting to a new provider.
According to life insurance specialist LifeSearch, five years ago, a typical 20-year policy covering a £100,000 loan would have cost a 30-year-old man £30 a month.
The same man, now 35, could switch to a new 20-year plan that costs only £9 a month, a saving of £250 a year.
Financial feat: 'I have money I did not have before - and it's free' Caibre King, who works at JP Morgan bank, awarded himself a bonus last autumn by moving the mortgages on his Bournemouth home and his nearby buy-to-let investment property to cheaper fixed-rate loans, through the broker Mostly Mortgages.
King, 31, says: I was lucky, as at the time fixed-rate mortgages were cheap. I managed to borrow an extra £5,000 for the same repayments.
I used some of the money to do up the bathroom in my own flat and put the rest into a cash Individual Savings Account (ISA) as an emergency fund.
This is money I did not have before and it's not costing me any more in repayments.'
