Fixed Rate Mortgaged Ended Now on Base Rate Tracker?

MoneyFun

Hi I wonder if anyone can help? I was on a fixed rate mortgage and when this ended I expected it would switch to a variable rate in line with current interest rates. I have just looked through my statements and I'm on a Base Rate Tracker at a rate of 2.50000. This rate has not changed since March 2011.

I was wondering why I am on a Tracker, if this was the best option and why the rate has remained the same?

Any help would be appreciated before I call the mortgage company and make a fool of myself!

kingstreet

The follow-on rate for your mortgage was a tracker, or your lender at the time had a standard variable rate with a base rate guarantee.

Lloyds/C&G and Nationwide both issued mortgages with a guarantee of BoE base rate + 2% in the mid-00s.

That's probably why you're paying 2.5% and have been for some time...

MoneyFun

Thanks Kingstreet. Does that mean I should have switched to a lower rate when the fixed term ended and could have had a better deal?

kingstreet

I don't know if you should have. You'd need to answer that yourself.

Are you capable of getting a lower rate from your existing lender, or a new one by remortgaging?

JimmyTheWig

The good news is that you've been paying a pretty low rate.
If you'd have been with Santander, for example, you'd have been paying 4.74%.

Could you have done better? Quite possibly.
Could you have done much better? I doubt it.
Is there anything you can do about what has happened? No.
Is there anything you can do going forwards? Yes.