MSE News: 'Don't take mortgage SVR hikes lying down'

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Over a million will be hit by the rises announced over the past week, but many aren't doing their best to cut costs ..."

Read the full story:
'Don't take mortgage SVR hikes lying down'

DannyboyMidlands

Do something? Nah.

Far better to moan about the product you chose, how the varying of a variable rate is unfair/unjust/criminal/kicking us while we're down (delete as appropriate) and conveniently forget that the rate has been massively lower than your budget cost for the last 3 years.

suburbanwifey

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

Do something? Nah.

Far better to moan about the product you chose, how the varying of a variable rate is unfair/unjust/criminal/kicking us while we're down (delete as appropriate) and conveniently forget that the rate has been massively lower than your budget cost for the last 3 years.

I take it you are a renter who has been unable to buy then? It puzzles me how some seem so happy so many are going to be in trouble.

Consumerist

suburbanwifey wrote: »

It puzzles me how some seem so happy so many are going to be in trouble.

I don't think it's a question of being happy at what is happening but more the disbelief that home-owners haven't seen this coming and re-organised their finances appropriately.

Recent years have provided an opportunity to pay down mortgages in preparation for the inevitable rate increase but not everyone has taken advantage. Why not?

It seems reasonable to me that a home-owner who was not able to pay down a mortgage when at historically low rates should have questioned whether they could afford to buy in the first place.

No-one seems, either, to consider the savers who provide much of the mortgage funding and have been screwed-over for years at less-than-inflation returns while home-owners enjoyed ever-increasing house prices.

Thrugelmir

suburbanwifey wrote: »

I take it you are a renter who has been unable to buy then? It puzzles me how some seem so happy so many are going to be in trouble.

Interest rates need to normalise. So that both savers and borrowers a like receive and pay fair interest rates. Low interest rates have distorted the economy. As debt has created non existant wealth for a generation.

suburbanwifey

Consumerist wrote: »

I don't think it's a question of being happy at what is happening but more the disbelief that home-owners haven't seen this coming and re-organised their finances appropriately.

Recent years have provided an opportunity to pay down mortgages in preparation for the inevitable rate increase bur not everyone has taken advantage. Why not?

It seems reasonable to me that a home-owner who was not able to pay down a mortgage when at historically low rates should have questioned whether they could afford to buy in the first place.

No-one seems, either, to consider the savers who provide much of the mortgage funding and have been screwed-over for years at less-than-inflation returns while home-owners enjoyed ever-increasing house prices.

Fair point. I am actually one of those that did take advantage of low rates and I am now mortgage free and am thus a saver now. So I see your point.

suburbanwifey

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Interest rates need to normalise. So that both savers and borrowers a like receive and pay fair interest rates. Low interest rates have distorted the economy. As debt has created non existant wealth for a generation.

Yes, you're right. I just feel sad for all those that face repossession at some stage in the future as I fear that is what will happen. These small rate rises are just the start if you ask me. I see Armageddon for a lot out there.

gadgetmind

Anyone who didn't make hay while the sun shone (overpayments, saving/investing surplus funds) can't exactly moan. It's not as if mortgage interest rates going up wasn't rather inevitable.

Standingtall

However, let's not forget that even if people have been sensible we are also now faced with every increasing food, petrol and home energy costs (albeit a very small drop in energy costs of late). Combine this with a rise in mortgage SVR and it is not just the imprudent who may suffer.

Additionally, whilst I remember a rate, very briefly, of either 14 or even 16% in the 1980s, most young mortgage lenders would not even think to imagine such a thing - they will view these very low rates as perfectly normal and therefore plan accordingly.

Thrugelmir

suburbanwifey wrote: »

Yes, you're right. I just feel sad for all those that face repossession at some stage in the future as I fear that is what will happen. These small rate rises are just the start if you ask me. I see Armageddon for a lot out there.

With sensible lending policy now in place. The situation will unwind.

People are working longer and retiring later. So there's no need for mass panic. Mortgages will just be repaid over a longer time frame.

Probably take a decade though.

shortchanged_2

I think a few people probably got a bit excited when they read the headline.

Looking for the glut of no win no fee companies who will get your money back from this SVR hike.