February Mortgage Rates?

SH88

Hey everyone.

So I'm currently on a 2 year fix with Halifax at 1.43% which comes to an end February 29th.

(I didn't know what I was doing and was at a difficult time in my life when I applied for the mortgage so kicking myself for not fixing for longer...)

Anyway, Halifax is now offering renewals with the following:
• 2 Year Fixed for 5.03%
• 2 Year Tracker for 5.89% (+0.64%)
• 5 Year Fixed for 4.75%
• 10 Year Fixed for 4.86%

 This comes into effect February 29th, so I have a few weeks to decide.

My question is, is it worth fixing for 2 or 5 years (or 10?)? And do you think any Bank of England/Interest Rates will change what Halifax may offer, if I wait a couple of weeks, as we enter February? ( I believe rates change again on 1st?)...

Also possibly a stupid question, but can I phone Halifax and haggle? Like you can with Car Insurance for example?

My LTV is currently 70.78%, but I don't have any savings currently to reduce it further.

I honestly don't know how people are managing, as my Mortgage is about to go from £780 to over £1100 a month. Makes me extremely nervous.

Any advice would be appreciated. (I'm also aware no-one has a crystal ball though).

Thank you for reading, and enjoy your day.

Hoenir

SH88 said:

Also possibly a stupid question, but can I phone Halifax and haggle? Like you can with Car Insurance for example?

No. There's no negotiation. 

Choice of new product is very much a personal decision. Who knows what might happen next week. To send rates either up or down. 

cymruchris

The rates could go up - they could go down. 

If nothing silly happens in the world - they might nudge down later this year.

But then silly things seem to be happening more frequently.

sevenhills

Santander will nudge up rates by up to 0.20 percentage points on some fixed-rate products from Wednesday.

It bucks wider trends with Nationwide among the latest to reduce rates.  Analysts said they still expect the benchmark interest rate to be cut this year despite worries about inflation.

The move by Santander came after official figures recently showed that inflation, which measures the rate at which prices rise, unexpectedly ticked up to 4% in December.

RelievedSheff

Have you looked what rates other lenders are offering? You might find better by remortgaging away from the Halifax.

JustMe18

£1100 sounds all right nowadays, we are looking for  a new mortgage and it will be over £2k lol 

london21

My current fix ends 01/02/2024 and I have accepted 4.72% no product fees 65% LTV 2 years fix.

I also went through the phase of wishing I had fix my product for 5 years in 2021 when the mortgage started but accepted what is now. Will be going from 1.64% to 4.72%.

The rates started at 5.72% or so when I started looking around October 2023.

The rates will fall probably but hard to know when exactly and doing nothing is not an option as I currently pay £1110 and doing nothing going on standard variable Is like £2300 whereas the new monthly amount with the 2 years fix will be around £1520.

For you can select a rate and if it drops further before the product starts can get the reduced rate, next BOE announcement is on the 1st February 2024.  Personally, going for 2 years as in 2 years’ time rates would have likely gone down but if you like certainty then maybe 5 years might be a better choice for you.

pw007

I’m with Halifax and my deal ends at the end of June and like you said for a five year fixed it’s 4.75%. However since that offer from 1st of January, Halifax have cut rates, from a thread I started I get the impression if you look on February 1st these cuts might have come into effect. So it might be worth waiting til February 1st and see if they’ve dropped. That’s what I’m going  to do. 

SH88

Hoenir said:

SH88 said:

Also possibly a stupid question, but can I phone Halifax and haggle? Like you can with Car Insurance for example?

No. There's no negotiation. 

Choice of new product is very much a personal decision. Who knows what might happen next week. To send rates either up or down. 

Thank you for confirming that regarding the negotiation. I've always wondered.

cymruchris said:

The rates could go up - they could go down. 

If nothing silly happens in the world - they might nudge down later this year.

But then silly things seem to be happening more frequently.

I understand. And I guess that's exactly what I'm worried about - The world is more crazy than ever it seems.

sevenhills said:

Santander will nudge up rates by up to 0.20 percentage points on some fixed-rate products from Wednesday.

It bucks wider trends with Nationwide among the latest to reduce rates.  Analysts said they still expect the benchmark interest rate to be cut this year despite worries about inflation.

The move by Santander came after official figures recently showed that inflation, which measures the rate at which prices rise, unexpectedly ticked up to 4% in December.

Interesting... I wonder which others will follow suit.. Halifax for instance dropped their rates slightly compared to January's figures.

RelievedSheff said:

Have you looked what rates other lenders are offering? You might find better by remortgaging away from the Halifax.

Given our current personal circumstances I don't think we'd meet an affordability check for a new mortgage, which is why I'm looking to stick with Halifax, as we can pay it (be it slightly higher), but it's less hassle to renew.

JustMe18 said:

£1100 sounds all right nowadays, we are looking for  a new mortgage and it will be over £2k lol 

Oh wow! That is a lot. What's the property value and term etc for you to be quoted £2k? (if you don't mind sharing of course).

london21 said:

My current fix ends 01/02/2024 and I have accepted 4.72% no product fees 65% LTV 2 years fix.

I also went through the phase of wishing I had fix my product for 5 years in 2021 when the mortgage started but accepted what is now. Will be going from 1.64% to 4.72%.

The rates started at 5.72% or so when I started looking around October 2023.

The rates will fall probably but hard to know when exactly and doing nothing is not an option as I currently pay £1110 and doing nothing going on standard variable Is like £2300 whereas the new monthly amount with the 2 years fix will be around £1520.

For you can select a rate and if it drops further before the product starts can get the reduced rate, next BOE announcement is on the 1st February 2024.  Personally, going for 2 years as in 2 years’ time rates would have likely gone down but if you like certainty then maybe 5 years might be a better choice for you.

Interesting... Thanks for sharing your personal experience. It's really insightful to see others in very similar situations. Hopefully you fixed with a nice renewal... Feel free to share if you have more info.

pw007 said:

I’m with Halifax and my deal ends at the end of June and like you said for a five year fixed it’s 4.75%. However since that offer from 1st of January, Halifax have cut rates, from a thread I started I get the impression if you look on February 1st these cuts might have come into effect. So it might be worth waiting til February 1st and see if they’ve dropped. That’s what I’m going  to do. 

Thank you for letting me. Because that's exactly what I ended up doing.

So for full transparency (or anyone who's actually reading this out of interest/looking for help), I ended up waiting until February 1st (today) and Halifax did in fact lower some of the Fixed Rate rates, compared to January (when I started this post).

These are what were offered:

• 2 Year Fixed: 4.67%      - £1069.00

• 2 Year Tracker: 5.89%  - £1189.61

• 5 Year Fixed: 4.47%      - £1049.87

• 10 Year Fixed: 4.86%    - £1087.34

So the 2 and 5 Fixed rates were lowered by almost 0.4% (saving around £150 per month).

Now all that's left to decide is, should I fix for 2, 5 or 10 years.
I actually think I will never fix for 2 years again. That was a big mistake, and we simply don't know what could happen... maybe in 2 years Interest Rates under a new government could be 15%+... It's happened before.

So I'll likely decide between 5 and 10... 10 is actually feeling pretty good. My mortgage is only 21 years, so that would be half of it by then, knowing the figure the entire time for piece of mind.
But, 5 is also tempting.

Any final advice would be appreciated.
I hope this helps someone else or gives them comfort if they're in the same situation.
Thanks for reading and enjoy your day.

buttonmoon

It depends on your situation and your attitude towards risk. My mortgage with Halifax is up for renewal on 30th June so I have a little more time that you. 

The current predictions are that interest rates will start to come down in the second half of 2024 and decrease in 2025 to around 3/3.5%. However, it is just a prediction.  It depends on how much you value the security of knowing how much you will be paying. I fixed for 5 years in 2019 and then rates plummeted in 2020, but since 2022 I’ve been glad I fixed at 2.4%! 

I’ve got longer to make my decision but I won’t be looking at fixing for 10 years.  I’m tempted to fix for 2 years and cross my fingers that rates are better in 2026. On the other hand I’m tempted to fix for 5 years as they are lower than an 2 year fix at the moment. 

london21

SH88 said:

Hoenir said:

SH88 said:

Also possibly a stupid question, but can I phone Halifax and haggle? Like you can with Car Insurance for example?

No. There's no negotiation. 

Choice of new product is very much a personal decision. Who knows what might happen next week. To send rates either up or down. 

Thank you for confirming that regarding the negotiation. I've always wondered.

cymruchris said:

The rates could go up - they could go down. 

If nothing silly happens in the world - they might nudge down later this year.

But then silly things seem to be happening more frequently.

I understand. And I guess that's exactly what I'm worried about - The world is more crazy than ever it seems.

sevenhills said:

Santander will nudge up rates by up to 0.20 percentage points on some fixed-rate products from Wednesday.

It bucks wider trends with Nationwide among the latest to reduce rates.  Analysts said they still expect the benchmark interest rate to be cut this year despite worries about inflation.

The move by Santander came after official figures recently showed that inflation, which measures the rate at which prices rise, unexpectedly ticked up to 4% in December.

Interesting... I wonder which others will follow suit.. Halifax for instance dropped their rates slightly compared to January's figures.

RelievedSheff said:

Have you looked what rates other lenders are offering? You might find better by remortgaging away from the Halifax.

Given our current personal circumstances I don't think we'd meet an affordability check for a new mortgage, which is why I'm looking to stick with Halifax, as we can pay it (be it slightly higher), but it's less hassle to renew.

JustMe18 said:

£1100 sounds all right nowadays, we are looking for  a new mortgage and it will be over £2k lol 

Oh wow! That is a lot. What's the property value and term etc for you to be quoted £2k? (if you don't mind sharing of course).

london21 said:

My current fix ends 01/02/2024 and I have accepted 4.72% no product fees 65% LTV 2 years fix.

I also went through the phase of wishing I had fix my product for 5 years in 2021 when the mortgage started but accepted what is now. Will be going from 1.64% to 4.72%.

The rates started at 5.72% or so when I started looking around October 2023.

The rates will fall probably but hard to know when exactly and doing nothing is not an option as I currently pay £1110 and doing nothing going on standard variable Is like £2300 whereas the new monthly amount with the 2 years fix will be around £1520.

For you can select a rate and if it drops further before the product starts can get the reduced rate, next BOE announcement is on the 1st February 2024.  Personally, going for 2 years as in 2 years’ time rates would have likely gone down but if you like certainty then maybe 5 years might be a better choice for you.

Interesting... Thanks for sharing your personal experience. It's really insightful to see others in very similar situations. Hopefully you fixed with a nice renewal... Feel free to share if you have more info.

pw007 said:

I’m with Halifax and my deal ends at the end of June and like you said for a five year fixed it’s 4.75%. However since that offer from 1st of January, Halifax have cut rates, from a thread I started I get the impression if you look on February 1st these cuts might have come into effect. So it might be worth waiting til February 1st and see if they’ve dropped. That’s what I’m going  to do. 

Thank you for letting me. Because that's exactly what I ended up doing.

So for full transparency (or anyone who's actually reading this out of interest/looking for help), I ended up waiting until February 1st (today) and Halifax did in fact lower some of the Fixed Rate rates, compared to January (when I started this post).

These are what were offered:

• 2 Year Fixed: 4.67%      - £1069.00

• 2 Year Tracker: 5.89%  - £1189.61

• 5 Year Fixed: 4.47%      - £1049.87

• 10 Year Fixed: 4.86%    - £1087.34

So the 2 and 5 Fixed rates were lowered by almost 0.4% (saving around £150 per month).

Now all that's left to decide is, should I fix for 2, 5 or 10 years.
I actually think I will never fix for 2 years again. That was a big mistake, and we simply don't know what could happen... maybe in 2 years Interest Rates under a new government could be 15%+... It's happened before.

So I'll likely decide between 5 and 10... 10 is actually feeling pretty good. My mortgage is only 21 years, so that would be half of it by then, knowing the figure the entire time for piece of mind.
But, 5 is also tempting.

Any final advice would be appreciated.
I hope this helps someone else or gives them comfort if they're in the same situation.
Thanks for reading and enjoy your day.

My 4.72% started yesterday.

I have been checking regularly if any changes before it started but now think they might have increased slightly from yesterday's announcement. 

Will now seat tight, not as bothered anymore about rates with regards to mortgage but benefiting for my savings.

Happy with my choice of no product fee 4.72% virgin money 65% LTV.