Getting the best mortgage deals
Getting the best mortgage deals has never been harder, or more pressing. There’s a blizzard of economic data at the moment, and much of it apparently contradictory - the UK is simultaneously suffering inflation and deflation, Bank of England base lending rate has come down (though it was left unchanged on 5 June 2008) while the rates at which banks lend each other money (LIBOR) has been rising. And commentators are divided (because they really have no idea as yet) whether we are at the beginning of a recession or a more orderly adjustment as the bad debt junk, sub prime mortgages and the like are cleared from the system.
For what it’s worth, I’d put my money, were I able to borrow some for a bet right now, on the more pessimistic analysis. UK plc, as it used bullishly to be dubbed, is in a parlous financial state, with the country’s wealth (both of its citizens and of the Exchequer) being largely based on heavily leveraged and increasingly unsustainable debt. And the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has predicted a very gloomy economic outlook for Britain. Okay - so much for the bad news, what can you do to make your personal finances more comfortable? Even in the good times, most of us are guilty of appalling financial inertia - we allow our home loans to languish on high rate variable deals when we could easily fix at lower rates, we run up debt on credit cards. Getting a great mortgage deal isn’t that likely, as money is more expensive … but logic dictates that you can still get the best mortgage deal, and that it’s very unlikely that you are currently on it.
Many fixed rate mortgage deals are set to expire this autumn, and that’s where the pain will really start for borrowers - I can guarantee that a large percentage haven’t even thought about what’s coming up. Before you know it you can be arbitrarily plonked from a fix at 4.5% to a variable rate of 7% or above - horrific. Start researching figures on getting the best mortgage deals now, with moneyfacts.co.uk and moneysupermarket.com top places to start looking.
Tags: UK mortgage, Mortgage deals, Remortgaging UK
Related: Best mortgage deals are no longer through brokers.
