MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Fixed, tracker, offset, £1000 fees, 2yr, 5yr.....
I'm struggling to get to grips with it all, someone PLEASE confirm for me that its all just a gamble.
I wouldn't know. I'm sub-prime.
whatever you pick the banks will have their pound of flesh.
Eventually interest rates will go up. Maybe not this year but eventually. The gamble is: do you go variable/tracker and live with rate rises or fix later on or do you fix now for a long term for stability with fixed rate mortgages at potentially the lowest level they're likely to be in the next few years?
It's well worth understanding what it all means and get advice on what suits you best. In my case, I'm lucky that I'm on variable now so can take advantage of the low rates but handle an interest rate rise of a few percent. Others might not be so fortunate which may make fixing a safer bet.
Its a complete gamble. Nobody knows and if they did they certainly wouldn't tell you. We fixed a few years ago based on pretty much everyone saying that with interest rates this low they are bound to go up, well they haven't yet. Just don't over-stretch yourself and stick your fingers in your ears when your mates start telling you they are on 0.0001% and only pay 12p a month
Er a calculated gamble, that must be based on your personal circumstances and what you can afford. It's still the cheapest loan you're gonna get. Work out what you can afford to pay now, and how that might change in the future. E.g. if you picked a tracker, could you still afford it if interests rates were > 5 %(or more) in a few years time. What's your attitude to risk? Would you prefer to know exactly how much you have to pay each month, if yes, pick a fixed rate, there's some good ones to be had now. FWIW we took out a tracker at a time when noone really was, against prevailing advice. Interest rates went up for a while, but then went down and kept going down. Best choice we could have made. Given that they ain't going to go any lower and you can't get the trackers now that you could then, if it were me now I'd be looking at one of the fixed rates, with a view to moving/ seeing what the situation was at the end of the fixed period. All in IMHO of course, cause, I know as much about this stuff as the next person .... 😉
Decide on fixed or variable by flipping a coin, if it wasn't all a gamble before then it will be now 🙂