How have you benefited from low interest rates?

DervProf

Hasn't made much difference to me. I didn't have much debt before IRs were lowered, and I have even less debt now. Can't say that I know how much I might/might not be saving on mortgage interest, as I had an offset mortgage.

I have savings, which are obviously earning less interest than a few years back. Given the choice of low interest on savings, or low interest payments on debt, I'd take the savings every time.

DervProf

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Rents here are expensive, more than the cost of a full repayment mortgage at 5% interest, and house prices have held up well.

Really ?

Why haven't you mentioned this before ?

Answers on an internet forum.

Wheezy_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

Main benefit for us is that we've been able to take a five-year fixed at a very low rate. We got in just before the fixed rates started to creep up again. Will enable paying off of large chunk of mortgage, plus there will be so little outstanding at the end that whatever happens to rates we will be able to afford.

However on the other side of things, my ISA is barely worth putting money in and returns on savings are hard to find.

Same for us, viva.
Took out a 5 year fix at an 'okay' rate (with hindsight we would have been better off with a couple of years on a tracker), but who knew and we liked the certainty of a fix. Have been overpaying (10% of balance allowed), so when we come to the end of the fix (2014), even with significantly higher rates, we should be ok.

Alter_ego

I haven't had to worry much about how to spend the interest on my savings

botchjob

Fantastic for us. We've got 2 in childcare so it's been a very expensive time over the last couple of years. But come september the eldest will go to school and childcare costs will drop, which nicely coincides with the likelihood of gradually rising rates. The timing has been brilliant for us. Phew!

IveSeenTheLight

HappyMJ wrote: »

Edit: And another thing my house has dropped in value from it's peak at £155,000 to £130,000. There's £25k gone.

Ok, it;s dropped £25k from peak, but what about from when you bought?

Graham_Devon

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

The part most bears forget, is that if you spend 35% of your income on consumer goods or services that have inflated by 4%, but get a pay rise of 2% on 100% of your income, you're still better off in cash terms. Add cheaper mortgage expenses for those that have them, and it's still a clear win versus 2007 for most mortgage holders.

Oh, it just gets better!!

movilogo

I am being immensely benefitted as I have a tracker mortgage :j

setmefree2

AD9898 wrote: »

I'm pretty certain that although I'm sure there are a few, not many people will have been making or been able to overpay thousands of pounds on their mortgages, most would have saved somewhat less.

We have - god's honest truth. In Nov 2007 we were paying £28.30 per day in interest on our mortgage, which was £849 per month just in interest. Last month we paid £1.81 per day or £56 for the month. £800 per month difference - times 12 = £9,600 per year. All that saved interest has gone into overpaying.

zcrat41

I had saved for 2 or 3 years a 25% plus deposit and fixed for 5 yrs and what is historically a stonking good rate. (4%)

My business has done brilliantly in terms of interest only loans - the asset value has significantly gone up and we've been able to borrow more (as we have a fairly large asset base with low borrowings) to make the most of it.