Are interest rates going to go up anytime soon? 31 December 2012 at 2:26PM in Savings & investments 33 replies 3.3K views

Legacy_user

Are interest rates going to go up anytime soon?

If they do go up, how much is realistically possible?

Tiglath

Personally I'm expecting a 0.5% hike in the latter half of 2013. Just a gut feeling. After that I wouldn't like to say.

blinko

nope !!! and it certainly wouldn't be a 0.5% hike if they did !!

opinions4u

Can't see it.

newbie1980

upto 10% and all the foreigners are gonna become loan shark s for us poor brits!!!!

System

I think I was definately born at the wrong time.....

Just turned 28. Unemployment is rife, buying a house is impossible, interest rates are awful.

I have £24k savings which helps.....but I can't do anything decent with it.

I get a massive £45 interest a month.

Anyone have any advice on what I could do with my savings to get the best out of them?

Mirno

HSBC at least seem to think not:
Compare their 70% LTV 2 year to their 70% LTV tracker - no significant difference (2 year is 0.2% cheaper than the tracker in those 2 years, but more expensive once on the SVR).
Compare their 70% LTV 2y year to their 70% LTV 5 year, and there's a jump.

So they're pricing for a change in the 2-5 year period, but even then it's not a significant jump. So it's either a significant hike at the end, or a more modest one earlier on.

The banks should be pricing their mortgages according to what they think the market will do (probably erring on the side of caution the further out the mortgage looks). So comparing one banks products across otherwise similar conditions gives at least an indication of what they think may happen. Rinse and repeat for as many banks as you can be bothered with to get a more rounded view.

Thanks,

Mirno

JoeCrystal

Well, you are doing decent with your savings. As you mentioned the fact about buying a house, I assume that it is your deposit. Hopefully, the savings are in Cash ISAs. Other than that, it does not really matter how much interest you are getting if you are saving toward a deposit.

On the other hand, if you are very reliant on interests to top up your income, then it is a different kettle of fish.

talexuser

soon.... no. The borrowing is going in the wrong direction due to lack of growth (our debt is RISING faster than any Eurozone country according to Spectator 21 Dec).

We will be in for more QE, more inflation, more cuts, and a Japanese style lost decade as far as I can see - the existing cuts haven't even started to be felt in earnest, let alone the future 10 billion.

JoeCrystal

talexuser wrote: »

sWe will be in for more QE, more inflation, more cuts, and a Japanese style lost decade as far as I can see - the existing cuts haven't even started to be felt in earnest, let alone the future 10 billion.

Hmm... In this case, how would you invest in these kind of decades... *waiting for waves of gold and silver praises*

Other than that, I agree very much with you.

Cheers.

Joe

Nicholas-bloody-Parsons

The experts on BBC Money Box all thought that interest rates would remain low throughout all of 2013.

... There will be no change whist the same idiots are in charge who have been in charge for the last four years.

Why they think ultra-low interest rates will solve the economys problems i dont know, its really worked well so far. hasnt it?