Swindon & Stroud 15 year fixed 4.99%

meanmachine_2

sarkin wrote:

Brannyrhino I think you may find you are very very wrong. If you had taken a 5 or 10 year fixed rate out in 1997 you would have lossed thousands. Many of my clients took long fixed rates in 1998-20000 as they remembered rates as high as 15%. and two years later runing round like headless chickens when the base rate hit 4% paying massive redemption fees to get out of the deal. for the future no one knows. Over the next 10 years interest rates could go a lot lower. Short term they are on the rise, what happens if we join the euro in 5 years time, you may find the base rate drops. I am all for long fixed rate but I think 5 years is a max.

The Euro rate is set to be 4% within a year, so unless the world goes into a recession, I doubt you'll see 4.75%, or even 4.99% as high going forward.

It's a risk either way, but considering the average UK interest rate is around 6-7%, if you can fix well below that, I'd go for it.

Personally, though, 10 years would be my max. And if I were buying now I'd fix for 5.

stphnstevey

I have personally gone for a 10 year fixed. However this is mainly due to our personal circumstances. I have more than one mortgage and so am very susupetible to mortgage rate increases. I don't have a large income to support me in hard times, so for me, fixing the rate garantees my monthly payments.

The stress relief of a garanteed monthly payment cost can not be ignored!

In addition, some people only evaluate their mortgage payments based on the initial rate and don't go so far to figure out if they still can afford it if rates increased. With a fixed rate you don't have to worry about this as generally your income will rise over time, so payments should become easier over time, rather than everthing in between.

If rates go down, I feel I still win as I know for sure I couldn't survive if the rates went up.

The portable aspect makes me feel more comfortable - it removes the problem about moving homes.

I also think it is not a bad time to fix a rate. If you look at a graph of previous rates over the past 20 years or so, you will see that rates generally don't fall below 3% but can go as high as 18%. Therefore at the moment I would say they are fairly low.

Also, if you work out the difference in payments between 3% and 4.99%, you will find it's not that much. This is the most you'll lose out. However if you look at the difference in between 4.99% and 18% you'll find there is a massive difference. This is what you could benefit.

Even if rates dropped to 0.01% (which is unheard of), that only means a loss of 4.98%. Were as there could be a benefit of as much as 13.01% off what others pay.

I noted that Nationwide Trackers now have a facility to change to a fix rate at anytime at no extra cost. Maybe this might be an option.

It really comes down to your personal circumstances, so only you can decide that. But it can work well for some people, example me!

ringley

Thanks everyone for the advice on this. Can anyone recommend a good mortgage broker around Liverpool? PM me if so! I'm tempted by this rate, but could do with sitting down at talking to someone about it.

Thanks

Weggy

herbiesjp wrote:

Tosh

A broker is working on behalf of the client.

If a client wants a 10/15 year fixed rate, then the adviser will research10/15 year fixed rates. A good adviser will point out the complications of having fixed rates for such a long period.

However if a cleint is going into the decision with their eyes open, then there is no reason why an adviser would not arrange such a mortgage as long as it was suitable for the client

HTH

Have to agree here, and no I'm not a broker!

Our broker has been nothing but helpful when we've been discussing 5, and even 10, year fixed term. In fact, we've just applied for a 5 year fixed mortgage......

So please, don't go slagging off brokers. Granted some may not be perfect, but I'd suggest that's a very low percentage.