UK interest rates up again

[Donagh]

Aye 'totally independent' 

[the Deel Rover]

whats the variable rate up north at the moment

[Square Ball]

5 yar fix as well, saving money from the last hike

[Rois]

BOE rate up to 5.75% so depends what your deal was when you got it what your rate is up to.

Surely the best way to get the best mortgage deal is to go to one of the independent Mortgage Advice shops , on any High Street, and they will trawl their database to see who has the best deal to suit your circumstances, and they are totally independent

An independent mortgage advisor - jeez, never thought of them    For people with my circumstances they just couldn't deliver on what we wanted. 

Bank of Ireland currently buying 12-month loans at 6.5% themselves so short term outlook in their eyes is another 0.75% rise.  Aaaaggghh!!!!

[the Deel Rover]

BOE rate up to 5.75% so depends what your deal was when you got it what your rate is up to.

Surely the best way to get the best mortgage deal is to go to one of the independent Mortgage Advice shops , on any High Street, and they will trawl their database to see who has the best deal to suit your circumstances, and they are totally independent

An independent mortgage advisor - jeez, never thought of them    For people with my circumstances they just couldn't deliver on what we wanted. 

Bank of Ireland currently buying 12-month loans at 6.5% themselves so short term outlook in their eyes is another 0.75% rise.  Aaaaggghh!!!!

jesus and i thought we were bad down here , i'm on a ecb tracker rate and it 4.6% despite it going up 2% the past 20 months ,god bless the euro 

[Lecale2]

A fixed rate mortgage is a sure fired money saver, if taken out when Interest rates are on the rise, and for the last two years everyone knew that this would happen, surely?

Surely the best way to get the best mortgage deal is to go to one of the independent Mortgage Advice shops , on any High Street, and they will trawl their database to see who has the best deal to suit your circumstances, and they are totally independent

Bollocks. Clearly the clown is not Tony Fearon!  Avoid these people like the plague.

5 yar fix as well, saving money from the last hike

But I think you'll find you were paying over the odds before that. Swings and round abouts. Banks make money on mortgages. That's their business. We can only try to ensure they don't make too much out of us.

Independent Financial Advice is your best bet Rois. They are properly regulated, unlike the so called Independent Mortgage Advice centres on the high street.

[Colonel Cool]

Sound advice there Lecale. Would you be an IFA yourself?

[Fishead_Sam]

Not sure of the North, but looking at the ECB I wouldn't go for more than 2-3 years fixed rate, saying 5 years + is not always a good idea as the rates may drop & you are stuck on the higher rate. If you wish to swith your mortgage for a more favourable rate with another lender and you are on a fixed rate you may incur penalties from your lender, but this will not happen on a variable rate, not saying not to go with a fixed rate, but not necessarialy too long term. I of course don't know the situation North of the border re: mortgages.

[Square Ball]

Current rates even with recent hikes are nothing compared with the 15% interest rates of the late 80's when I was at the same stage as most of you "young" people!

Bought when it was horrendous as well, 17500 was about 280 per month.

[Hound]

I have always gone the middle of the road way when getting a mortgate. 50% fixed and 50% variable.

Two obvious statements follow:
-Fixed rates are always higher than variable, and it takes a number of increases to get into a money saving position.
- Don't get a fixed rate for 5 years if you think you'll sell in 2 or 3 years - otherwise you'll be likely hit with a big penalty

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Lecale or anyone else out there, can you recommend any good IFA's and what are the normal costs for advice, or is it fee on signing up to a product?

[mackers]

GDA, if you're asked for anything more than £250 for advice,tell them to stick it!! There should be no other fees as the valuation fee and legal fees should be paid for by the lender. The only other fee you should watch for is a "deeds release fee" which your existing lender will hit you for should you clear the loan for any reason (i.e. re-mortgaging, moving house or clearing you loan from your own means). that fee should be in the region of £200-£300.
Worth checking with your existing lender to see what rate they'll give you to keep the business, more of them are doing this now.
Don't go for a five year deal like some are suggesting, what appears to be a great rate now may not be so hot in 18 months time, 2 year mortgage reviews would be spot on.

[CiKe]

well there is only going to be more increases in the ECB rate at the moment i'm afraid. For you southern homeowners  the other day i was reading a paper published by UCD economist back in March/April forecasting decline of about 70% in Irish house prices over the coming 8-9 years based on studies of housing booms and busts in the OECD since 1970. Most of these busts have had a minimal effect on the economy except Finland in early 80's which brought the banking system down, but in these cases most countries housing market was contributing only about 5% of GD, whereas in Ireland the construction sector has contributed more like 15-20%.

I had thought about buying about a year back but just didn't thik prices could keep going up. I see prices have started to come down a bt, and when I read this report I was thanking my lucky stars. No guarantees of course but food for thought

[Square Ball]

After Gordon Brown talking about them, here is the first one, would you take the jump? I would have, the same payment for 25 years, winners, losers but at least you know where you stand.

Nationwide launches 25 year fixed loan

Britain's biggest building society today announced plans to relaunch its 25-year fixed rate loan.   

 
The move comes the day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Government would introduce measures to help mortgage lenders finance "more affordable" long-term home loans.

Nationwide said it had always planned to relaunch the product after an initial offering of the deal, launched in March this year, sold out within five weeks.
The group is charging an interest rate of between 6.39% and 6.89% for the loan, depending on whether the borrower is a new or existing customer and whether they are remortgaging or moving house.

People who want to pay off their mortgage early will have to pay a redemption penalty of 3% of the amount they borrowed during the first 10 years of the loan, but there are no charges after this period.

The mortgage is portable, meaning borrowers do not have to change it if they move home, and people can also increase the amount they borrow during the period.

There is a £599 arrangement fee for new customers taking out the deal, which will be available from July 17, while existing customers will be charged £499.

Nationwide is only the fourth lender in the UK to offer a 25-year fixed rate deal, and the first of the top 10 biggest lenders to have one.

But Louise Cuming, head of mortgage services at moneysupermarket.com, criticised the 10-year tie-in.

She said: "Ten years is a long time to tie in to a loan. Anything could happen.

"You are tying yourself into a deal that costs a lot of money to come out of if you change your mind."

The Government yesterday said it planned to introduce a new regime under which lenders could use so-called covered bonds to back long-term mortgage deals in a bid to make them cheaper and more attractive to consumers.

But while the industry gave the news a cautious welcome, experts said they were unsure whether the move would significantly reduce the rates lenders charged on long-term fixed rate mortgages.

Andy Wiggans, mortgage director at Bradford & Bingley, said the new regime could reduce the cost of the deals by as little as 0.01%.

Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said lenders would need to build more flexibility into long-term fixed rate deals if borrowers were going to take them out.

He added that at this point in time he wouldn`t recommend anybody took out a long-term fixed rate loan as we were at the top of an interest rate cycle.

[CiKe]

Forecasts of 4.75% in Euroland for start of next year, 5% if inflation stays above 2% from JP Morgan.