if rates went up to 12%........

Reds-on-Sea

I have a tracker - if BoE base rate went up to 12% I'd be paying £2000 a month on my mortgage! Ouch, Yes, I'd struggle a LOT, but even at that amount I would, by hook or by crook earn enough money to pay it. I don't know how long I'd be able to sustain it though I'd have to get a second job at a supermarket or something.

New kitchen would have to wait, that;s for sure!

baby_boomer

Whose job would be at risk if rates went up to 12%? How many of us know the exact state of our employer's borrowings?

LilacPixie

If rates went up to 12% I would be paying another £200 a month on my mortgage. We would cope but thats provided we were both working. To be honest even the thought makes me even more determined to pay off our unsecured debts before mortgage fixed rate ends in 2010.

neverdespairgirl

baby_boomer wrote: »

Whose job would be at risk if rates went up to 12%? How many of us know the exact state of our employer's borrowings?

I do. OH does. We're both self-employed (-:

clobber_2

I had been very sensible and made sure when budgeting for a house purchase that we could afford it if IR went up to 15% for a while.

Of course, now I have the fear and we are going to stay in rented for a while...hope my landlord has been similarly sensible.

Dan:_4

If they went up to 12% i'll be f.ucked

Gorgeous_George

I'd need to find 30% more (about £250) to pay my mortgage. Of course, my investments should attract a higher rate so the impact would be somewhat less.

Maybe I'd have one less foreign holiday or, more likely, cut back on non-essentials (:cool: ). I could use less petrol, gas, electric, food, drink, nights out, internet (:eek: ), lottery. Maybe I would cancel my charity standing orders (maybe not).

I'd probably have cleared my mortgage by the time rates get that high.

GG

jamtart6

I think the problem will be house prices won't fall enough but interest rates will, which coupled, will devaste FTBs. I dunno what to do for the best...we're riding out the fall in house prices..but will we be able to ever get a mortgage for a house where we want to live now? Doubt it...

wymondham

How realistic is it rates going up this amount? Just curious as I remember 3 months after we first bought in the early 90's rates went to about 15% in a very short time - that was tough (at the time anyway - £400 per month :rotfl: ). This is on a small loan, can't imagine the monopoly money sized mortgages if rates shot up now with people on £100,000 + etc....

mizzbiz

We'd have to pay about an extra 300 per month if this is what they are when fixed rate ends in 2010. Since we're also renting as we work away, this would be crippling. However, we'd just move back and cut the rental.

As for the likelihood of this happening, my parents are only too happy to remoind me that just after buying a house in the early 90's they were paying 15% interest. Needless to say I was an early learner where interest on mortgages we concerned. Their advice to me was, whenever you take out a mortgage, always calculate your repayments at 15%, then you no that no matter what happens (save for going up to 20% god forbid), you can always afford to repay it. This was some of the best advice i've ever been given and I realise it even more so now when I see FTB's struggling with this new concept of SVR and the looming 8%.....