Is Fixed or Variable the best route at the moment?

Crazy_Saver

Hi Guys.

I've been reading the forum avidly over the past few days as I am in the process of re-mortgaging.

Most posters seem to be of the opinion that interest rates probably won't to anything much over the next few months, and some are even predicting the chance of a .25% drop!

I had decided to not fix at the monent currently on .19% above base rate.

My problem is that after reading my Martin's money tips E-mail today I'm all confused again.

He has written;

WARNING! Is your fixed rate ending before Feb? Start remortgaging now or pay £300/month more
100,000s of fixed rate mortgages are due to end in the next three months; if that’s you beware; if you don’t deal with it, for every £100,000 of mortgage your repayments will rise by around £300 a month. The correct time to start remortgaging (switching to a new, cheaper deal), is 3 months before your current deal ends so start urgently.

All/any advice gratefully and willingly received.

Regards

Crazy Saver

Jonbvn

Your current deal with BofE +0.19% is reasonable.

What Martin's email is talking about is if a fixed rate ends and switches to a lenders SVR. Since you are already remortgaging, it is not applicable to you.

Dan_Collins_2

I think this site is great but Martin seems to rank the drama up a little!

He is saying as jonbvn notes, that your deal could end and you could be stuck on a SVR. This would only be while you remortgaged, but if you look now you will get it switched in time. However you could say this every month!

You deal is good. Beating most current fixed!

Jonbvn

Dan_Collins wrote: »

I think this site is great but Martin seems to rank the drama up a little!

I think that is somewhat of an understatement - I find the MSE email somewhat equivalent to Sky News. However, with the posters on here Martin is preaching to the converted, so maybe not a bad thing.

Crazy_Saver

Thanks for your help guys.

I'll stick with what I've got for the time being.

No doubt the alarm bells will be ringing on here way before any major interest rises. until that time, i won't be trying to get a fixed rate.


Regards

Crazy saver
:beer:

MSE_Martin

Hi folks

The email goes to 1.5m people. You'd be surprised how many peopel get a fixed rate deal and dont bother to sort it either

a. in time
or
b. at all

The note in the email is valid and correct and I'm surprised at the comments above. There are 100,000s with fixed rates ending now and I'm trying to encourage them to get off their backsides and sort it out before being caught with the double whammy of rates being much higher than when they fixed and shifting to an SVR.

I'm rather surprised to be criticised for it!

martin

Jonbvn

MSE_Martin wrote: »

The note in the email is valid and correct and I'm surprised at the comments above. There are 100,000s with fixed rates ending now and I'm trying to encourage them to get off their backsides and sort it out before being caught with the double whammy of rates being much higher than when they fixed and shifting to an SVR.

I'm rather surprised to be criticised for it!

martin

Nobody said the email was wrong, nor are you being criticised for it??

What was stated, was that your email was not applicable to the OP, since he is already remortgaging onto a very competitive tracker mortgage at BofE +0.19%
Since you are posting at 2am, I am guessing it is too much :beer:

Crazy_Saver

Sorry Martin.

I didn't mean to cause offence with my question, I just wanted clarification from someone/anyone that the deal I have was the best one to go with.

I'm not a financial expert and and would be completely lost without this web site.

Regards

Crazy Saver

cm233lh

Whether you go for fixed or float depends on your circumstances. if you're on BOE+0.19% then you won't get a better floating rate; but if you would be crippled by a rate rise, you ought to consider getting it fixed. If you've got a bit of slack in your budget then I can't see that short-term fixed rates offer any benefits over a cheap tracker. I presume you paid quite a chunk of money to get a tracker at that rate - and you'll pay another big chunk to get a fix. But if you're on a short-term discount before returning to the SVR, then heed Martin's advice on 3 month lead time.

Crazy_Saver

cm233lh wrote: »

Whether you go for fixed or float depends on your circumstances. if you're on BOE+0.19% then you won't get a better floating rate; but if you would be crippled by a rate rise, you ought to consider getting it fixed. If you've got a bit of slack in your budget then I can't see that short-term fixed rates offer any benefits over a cheap tracker. I presume you paid quite a chunk of money to get a tracker at that rate - and you'll pay another big chunk to get a fix. But if you're on a short-term discount before returning to the SVR, then heed Martin's advice on 3 month lead time.

Thanks cm233lh.

I think I just got lucky, I picked up this Woolwich deal 12 months ago when a discounted 2 year tie in with them finished. They didn't charge me then and I've just sold my zombie endowment and remortgaged with them again to go full repayment and they let me keep the same deal with no remortgage charges. I'm not tied in and I can make overpayments of any size without penalty.

I think that as long as rates don't change too drastically I would be best not to fix at the moment.

I really hope I'm making the right decision. We do have a little bit of flexibility to cover any small rises but definately can't afford extra £100s.

Thanks for your advice.

Regards

Crazy Saver