Remarkable times.

andyfromotley

So i have just remortgaged with NW as i am coming to the end of my fix. I have remortgaged from a 3.4% 2 year fix to a 2.34% five year fix.!!

Now i know in this era of long term ultra low interest rate we have come to think of these sort of numbers as unremarkable, but this isn't my first time at the circus and i have had mortgages long enough to know that it isn't. In fact in interest rate terms we have been living through a very remarkable period of time.

I wonder how long it is before we look back on these halcyon days and think 'Did that really happen?' And kick ourselves for not taking out much much longer fixes. (although hopefully not me as i should be MF by the end of this fix:j)

kingstreet

A pedant would have asked if you're talking about NatWest or Nationwide.

Fortunately, I'm not such a creature.

Nor do I wonder if you really have remortgaged, or if you have asked your existing lender for a customer retention product which requires no new mortgage deed and is therefore distinctly not a remortgage.

I will gladly join you in patting yourself on the back in securing your wonderful product.

andyfromotley

Yeah, technically its a product switch you're right, but they are at the same rates available for remortgage.

Oh no that really wasn't the point of my post (honestly) i'm sure there will be a stream of people who could tell me that 2.34% on a 5 year fix really sucks and how i could of gotten it for tuppence ha'penny. (but i stuck with NationWide as the switch only took 15 minutes online). Going online and taking a fix from a list they offered hardly qualifies me as a financial genius!

I really was genuinely just reflecting at how astonishingly low long term fixes have become. I can. like many others, remember fixing variously at 5, 6 and 7.5% over the years and having variable rates of double figures!! With murmurings from the BOE i wonder if this is an era which will may not see again?

kingstreet

As a 49 year-old now, I remember paying Citibank 16%+ in 1988.

Fortunately, my £21,865 mortgage ended up as less than 2/3 of my income for that year.

Thrugelmir

andyfromotley wrote: »

I wonder how long it is before we look back on these halcyon days and think 'Did that really happen?' And kick ourselves for not taking out much much longer fixes. (although hopefully not me as i should be MF by the end of this fix:j)

I keep asking myself what's the catch....... When something is too good to be true it normally is.

Landofwood

Hi andyfrommotley,

Did Nationwide automatically estimate the new value of your home? Was this just displayed online?

andyfromotley

No i put in my own value, but i used the same one that i used when i bought it two years ago. I'm sure that it has gone up but LTV isn't an issue for me as i already had a low LTV. I'm not sure what would happen if you 'moved' yourself a LTV band iyswim

natbrown

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I keep asking myself what's the catch....... When something is too good to be true it normally is.

The catch is higher houseprices perhaps?

caprikid1

"The catch is higher houseprices perhaps? " THIS !!!


If interest rates were 16% I cannot think that house prices would be where they are today !.

Landofwood

caprikid1 wrote: »

"The catch is higher houseprices perhaps? " THIS !!!


If interest rates were 16% I cannot think that house prices would be where they are today !.

Quite true, but also a pointless thing to say.

If interest rates were 16%, the economy would be in a very different state compared to what we have today. Inflation and wages would be very different to today, so you cannot just look at a 16% interest rate in isolation. The effect on house prices is then different.

Thrugelmir

natbrown wrote: »

The catch is higher houseprices perhaps?

We already have those. My observation was looking forward to the time that the anesthetic finally wears off.