Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy

I'm optimistic/hopeful of getting 1.79% with no fees. In terms of plummeting it's more likely the rates will reduce for those with higher LTV, though it'll be front loaded with fees.

Anyway, that's a few months off for me so no point looking and getting excited. Nice task for me on my 2 weeks Christmas break!

A_Frayed_Knot

Hear what you are saying hiddenshaddow. Just reading Martin Brexit Q&A's, and in newspapers. I don't have any "inside" information, as Martin says "it's all Crystal Ball gazing"

He does mention a new 2 year fix 0.99% mortgage with HSBC, with a fee of course, and can't borrow more than 65% LTV. Nice, but usually the fee is the deal breaker.

hiddenshadow

A_Frayed_Knot wrote: »

Hear what you are saying hiddenshaddow. Just reading Martin Brexit Q&A's, and in newspapers. I don't have any "inside" information, as Martin says "it's all Crystal Ball gazing"

Indeed. I'm just analysing the pure numbers...given the risk in real estate lending (housing prices/values could shift, personal situations could affect ability to repay, etc), it seems mathematically infeasible to offer much below 2%.

He does mention a new 2 year fix 0.99% mortgage with HSBC, with a fee of course, and can't borrow more than 65% LTV. Nice, but usually the fee is the deal breaker.

Yeah I saw that but the fee negates the rate a bit, unless you're mortgaging a very high value property where the fee could be negligible.

gallygirl

We're at 1.49% at the mo and were going to be paying it off but need to think again if rates do drop (we're linked to base rate). However, the best savings rate at the mo for one year would give us around 1k in interest as opposed to saving us say £500 in mortgage interest. We'd get taxed on the 1k as we'd have already used up our tax free allowance so not really worth our while.

shangaijimmy

You're quite right on the whole savings front, as they're the rates that will fall even further. Are we better off adding to pension that saving £30 per month for example?

mrsp1987

I'm crying - I fixed at 3.19% for 5 years April 2015 just before I dropped below expectations 75% LTV. The fees for getting out early completely balance out any potential savings I could make moving to a much lower rate. Oh well, just have to wait another 4ish years and see where the market is then.

hiddenshadow

shangaijimmy wrote: »

You're quite right on the whole savings front, as they're the rates that will fall even further. Are we better off adding to pension that saving £30 per month for example?

Math-wise yes, as the stock market should earn at least 5% long-term, plus you get the top-up from HMRC. (Also if the stock markets are going to be crap for a while thanks to the economic uncertainty, it's a good time to buy.) Depends on whether you want access to the money in the next few decades though.

CathT

We have applied for additional borrowing to fund our extension. Midweek we were offered a 5yr fix at 2.69%, by the weekend it had dropped to 2.59% (no fees). Our LTV has temporarily increased back to 75% so not sure if there were better rates for <60.

We have av1va insurance but I've never looked into these perks!

shangaijimmy

Wow, i've not posted since Saturday morning! Nothing to update really either. We're a touch in living room limbo as we've ordered the couch and carpet, and picked the paint. Just waiting on builder now to do his bit which should hopefully be in 2 weeks.

I've kept on with TT's including 80p and 42p for last 2 days. Today i sent across my TSB interest (accounts not completely full given paying part of our holiday off) of £13.04. Halifax rewards should arrive in my Tesco savers on Friday.

shangaijimmy

A nice £7 surprise credited into the current account from our old providers, so i've promptly dispatched that to the mortgage.

Activity on here has been very lax of late, so i apologise for not keeping up with diaries. Very busy at work and home so i only seem to have snippets of time. I've also been matched betting so some of my old MFW time has been taken up with reading.