Morgage rates
 

Our morgage has gone from fixed to variable but when is the best time to fix it again?

Do i just leave it and wait for the bank to fix us or should i follow you lot? :thumbsup:

Mine ran out about 18 month ago and Ive left it, why look for a deal when the best deal is variable? Been paying 0.5% and its going to be that for approx another 3 years at the minute. Only a clown would look for a fixed rate at 4%

Don't bank on that mate. Though Mark Carney (BOE) says that his is aim for interest rates not to be raised for 3 years that does not make it concrete.

Parts of the 'market' are pricing in a rate rise before the 3 year deadline.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...284751130.html


If one were very sensitive to interest rate rises it may make sense to consider fixing for the medium term.

The mortgage rates are cheap but the banks aren't passing this on, I re mortgaged my house recently and although its been 7 years since I had a new mortgage its only £40 a month cheaper with the new 0,5% rate as the banks aren't passing this rate on as they need to build up their profit :D

If the Bank of England raises the interest rate it will be a license to print money for all banks as they will just get out of control and we will be unable to do anything about it bar watch the mortgage prices rise .

Who knows what interest rates will be in the future, it's unlikely they will be where they are for 3 years, even a year from now. Certainly they can only go up.

I'm looking at changing my mortgage from a low tracker to a 10 year fix at just under 4%. When the panic bandwagon starts for long term fixed rates the headline rates offered by banks will be hiked considerably.

Isn't it about time we got our money back off the banks

It depends what your variable rate is at the moment and how much you owe. Most banks are up around the 4 - 4.5% mark on variable rates. There are fixed rates as low as 1.99%.

I'm sure you can withdraw any monies you have deposited with the bank at anytime in accordance with the terms and conditions of your contract.

Are they refusing to let you withdraw your money?:confused:

You mentioned in previous posts your other half worked in the financial services. Maybe you could ask her? :)

I have just taken 2 year fix with offset at 2.59% with no arrangement fee, and no other fees because with existing lender. The fees make all the difference unless your mortgage is large.

:confused:

To the OP, go and see an independent Mortgage broker and get some real advice.

You do know that banks are free to set their variable mortgage rate at whatever they like. For example my fix ended a while back and I'm now on the variable rate at 4.99%. This is quite a bit above the Bank of England base rate of 0.5%.

I could take out another fix with an interest rate of between 2 & 2.5% depending as to how much I want to pay in fees or a tracker starting at 2.19% up to 2.5% with sensible fees.

So really only a clown would stay on a variable rate deal unless it's a lifetime tracker guaranteed to stay within x % of the current base rate ;)

When my fixed rate finished over 2 years ago I was moved on to their life time base rate tracker of 2% above the base rate. They've also been sending me leaflets about why I should fix as rates were rising since moving over to their BR tracker.

Thing to be wary of is that would you be worse off if you moved to a fixed and then find at the end of fixed deal be moved on to a mortgage that's worse off that you are currently on. If I moved to a fixed, at the end of their fix I'd be on their standard variable which is worse than their BR tracker, plus you'd have added whatever the rip off admin fee and arrangement fees are to the mortgage and thus be paying interest on that too for the term of the mortgage.

5% fixed on £100k until my mortgage is cleared in 2032.

I personally wouldn't bother with a fixed rate less than 5 years.

We're on 1% above base, our building society are desperately trying to get us to remortgage :D

Apparently it costs them money :wonder:

We have something similar. 0.99% above base.

The lender allows us to rent the property too which is great.

My wife works for either master card / visa or American Express. She does very little with figures but more systems that process money.

Thanks, that is fascinating.:confused:

just done mine last saturday at 2.25% for 5 years with natwest existing customers only and no fee's

Are you sure? I've just looked on the Nat West website and the lowest 5 year fixed for existing customers that I can see is either 2.79% without a fee or 3.09% with £995 fee.

Could you check for me?

Thanks

I wanted to clear up what she does but didnt want to say who for.

Our rate is 4.09% i belive. With skipton

I could also PAY a morgage advisor with what to do but would rather see what the experts here are doing. Id rsther listen to a 60yr old who has lived rather then some 25yr old spotty person with a degree in maths.

i will check tonight, i had it in my head it was 2.25 it may be 2.79 but it was fee free. and only on part of our mortgage, i have to go back in this saturday and swap, the rest over :thumb:

Was on a tracker at 0.49% above base rate. It ran out and have been on the banks variable for 2 years now. If it stays like this I will be happy because I only have 24 payments left

You are on an SVR at 0.5%, with whom? :wonder::wonder::wonder:



The majority of SVR rates are between 4-5%, only a clown would stay on an SVR with cheaper fixed rates quite a bit below that available.

I'm on a lifetime tracker at 1.79% above base rate which I'm pretty happy with, hopefully they do stay put at 0.5% for a few more years yet.

The Bank of England obviously ;) If Carlsberg did mortgages.....

Swings and roundabouts IMHO, if you are on a lifetime tracker with a small margin over BoE base then you've most likely had the loan since before the crash (which it was in most areas if inflation adjusted). If you took out a loan after the crash (so had the chance to trade the crash) then even with low LTV and excellent credit it will often be at least BoE + 2% without fees for a few years and SVRs below 4% are market leading.

I really cant see anything more than a 1% rise in the next 5 years.
I think we will see a small rise towards the end 2015, 0.25%.
Then I suspect we will see some very long gaps between any further rises.

I also think the BoE will stick to their guns - and I also think that we might not see such a rapid recovery - I think the next ten years will be very much up and down - with a good year followed by a bad year.

I think in general terms 2013 will have been a good year, compared to 2009 for example. But I dont think we are out of the woods yet by a long shot.