First Direct swamped by lifetime tracker mortgage applications

Really2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

If they had meant that, they would have said job security.

Really Graham

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8418440.stm
What employment prospects lie ahead in 2010

A year of fear on the jobs market, for both employers and employees.
"Many firms have tended to be very conservative in their staffing decisions," he says.
These conservative decisions - job cuts, recruitment freezes - have helped push the unemployment rate in the UK up to 7.9%, with almost 2.5 million people out of work.
Competition for jobs has inevitably increased. At the end of 2008, Totaljobs was receiving about five applications for every job posted. A year later, that figure had almost doubled.
So if 2009 was the year of fear, what's in store in 2010?
Austerity, according to John Salt.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-employment-prospects-bleaken-2047937.html
The employment prospects bleaken

'Bleak' prospects for youth jobs

I am not the only person who sees that as the prospect of employment.

DervProf

Really2 wrote: »

You said employment prospects (that is will I have a job or not), not promotion or wage inflation prospects.

I said .....

DervProf wrote: »

And before you sign up to a "deal", always consider your employment prospects, interest rate prospects and very importantly any exit fees from the deal you are taking on.

Let`s interpret what I said.

And before you sign up to a "deal" : This implies that I`m saying to someone "OK, you are considering signing up to a mortgage deal". If someone is considering a mortgage deal, it would be fair to assume they already have a job, or some other income. For most people, they are probably in employment.

consider your employment prospects : A sensible thing to do, I would have thought.

You originally suggested that what I was saying was "OK everyone, don`t sign up to a mortgage deal unless you know you`ll be in a job for the lifetime of the mortgage". I suppose that`s one interpretation of what I said. It ceratinly isn`t what I was suggesting, what I typed was pretty sound advice, I reckon.

Really2

DervProf wrote: »

consider your employment prospects : A sensible thing to do, I would have thought.

You originally suggested that what I was saying was "OK everyone, don`t sign up to a mortgage deal unless you know you`ll be in a job for the lifetime of the mortgage". I suppose that`s one interpretation of what I said. It ceratinly isn`t what I was suggesting, what I typed was pretty sound advice, I reckon.

No I did not, I was saying you always worry of your employment prospects before you sign any mortgage. (regardles how safe your job is)
It is obvious you should not sign if you know you are going to lose your job, and indeed it is breach of contract if you do so (they do ask)

So where you saying as long as you do not know you are going to lose your job, don't worry about it?

My simple but over blown point is, if you react on your fear you will never do anything.
I worried what if I lose my job when I purchased 9 years ago? Should I not have purchased because of that even though I now know I am still in the same job?

Your advise is sound advice to someone who knows they are possibly going to lose there job. But I see that as fairly obvious, I would say anyone who thinks taking a mortgage is a good idea knowing they could lose their job next week should not even be allowed to have credit ever.
But do you think the mortgage company would lend them the money if they knew that???

Was it job security then GD.

Graham_Devon

Really2 wrote: »

Really Graham

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8418440.stm
What employment prospects lie ahead in 2010



http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-employment-prospects-bleaken-2047937.html
The employment prospects bleaken

'Bleak' prospects for youth jobs

I am not the only person who sees that as the prospect of employment.

Lord knows why I'm even responding to this.

Prospects can mean a variety of things. Not just losing what you have.

Really2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Lord knows why I'm even responding to this.

Prospects can mean a variety of things. Not just losing what you have.

But I was right about what the OP meant, see above, (his own comments), so why feel the need GD.:p

Graham_Devon

Really2 wrote: »

But I was right about what the OP meant, see above, so why feel the need GD.:p

Considering they told you "it certainly wasn't what I was suggesting", I fear you have somewhat jumped the gun.

Really2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Considering they told you "it certainly wasn't what I was suggesting", I fear you have somewhat jumped the gun.

No, "it certainly wasn't what I was suggesting" was about knowing if you had a job for 25 years.

lets look

DervProf wrote: »

I
[it would be fair to assume they already have a job, or some other income. For most people, they are probably in employment.

consider your employment prospects : A sensible thing to do, I would have thought.

You originally suggested that what I was saying was "OK everyone, don`t sign up to a mortgage deal unless you know you`ll be in a job for the lifetime of the mortgage". I suppose that`s one interpretation of what I said. It ceratinly isn`t what I was suggesting, what I typed was pretty sound advice, I reckon.

Oh dear, national pedant day is a bit poor this year GD.;)

So stop it now, the OP knows what he is saying even if you don't.
He is clearly stating make sure you are not going to lose your job in the near future.

DervProf

Let`s try again, shall we ?

Please allow me to change/add a little to what I originally typed. I`m not trying to twist what I said, or go back on anything. I`m simply trying to make clear what I meant.

First of all "employment prospects". Employment prospects are job security and possible future earnings (promotion, demotion, overtime, short-time, redundancy, unemployment etc).

When considering a mortgage deal, always consider your employment prospects. If you are pretty sure that your income will not increase to a large degree, a variable rate mortgage may well carry an increased risk of financial hardship in the furute. A fixed rate deal may be a better option.

If you are likely to be on a higher salary in the future, then a variable rate mortgage that currently has favourable financial incentives may be good option.

It is obvious that virtually no one can guarantee their employment/income. It is obvious that people do not refuse a mortgage deal because they think they might lose their job in the future. You have to be positive, but not reckless (ie taking on a mortgage when you know your employer is about to make most of it`s staff redundant).

Strings

Graham_Devon wrote: »

My guess, is that if rates did start to rise, it would be too late to switch to a better deal, that isn't going to cost you a LOT more than this mortgage at the time of swtich.

It's like sitting on SVR while the good times roll. As soon as the letters start popping through the post about increases, the decent deals will have dried up.

You need to switch before the rates rise, or have an indication of rising.

I actually think when the base rate rises, you'll see fixed rates coming down. This has happened in NZ.

IveSeenTheLight

Strings wrote: »

I actually think when the base rate rises, you'll see fixed rates coming down. This has happened in NZ.

Did the fixed rate come down or did the margin between the BoE and fixed rates become lower?

Certainly we've already seen that fixed rates are currently lowering while the expectation of low interest rates are to continue.