Fixed or Variable Mortgage

Wings

I am looking to remortgage on a property valued at £200k, present mortgage variable at 6.40% on £75k. My question is should I go for a fixed or variable rate mortgage. For the former type I have found Stroud & Swindon at 5.15% fixed for 15 years with £840 setting up fee, and on the latter type 5.14% with ingDirect and no setting up fees.

rjm2k1

15 years is a long time to fix a mortgage rate for, you have to assume that they are prepared to offer it because they think they will make money out of it on the average, make sure you know what the early repayment fees are and whether or not it's portable to another property.

Nobody can really answer whether it's better to go fixed or variable rate, nobody can predict the future, but generally, if you want to know exactly how much you will be paying out each month for the next n years, then a fixed rate might be better. If you don't need the peace of mind of knowing exactly how much you will be spending each month, then a variable rate might be better.