Mortgage advisors in South Yorkshire encourage homeowners to 'plan ahead'

The Bank of England's expected to raise the base rate of interest for a 14th consecutive time later today

Author: Chris Davis-SmithPublished 9th Aug 2023

Mortgage advisors across South Yorkshire are urging homeowners 'not to bury their heads in the sand' - when it comes to rising interest rates on monthly payments.

It's as the Bank of England's expected to raise the base rate of interest for a 14th consecutive time at midday.

Troy Mallard is a mortgage advisor in Rotherham - We've been asking him how it'll affect people in need of a new deal:

"It'll have a lot of impact on people with variable rate mortgages and those looking to get new mortgages.

"We didn't anticipate initially the Bank of England's base rate to keep going above 5%, but because of the impact of inflation, it is going to go up at least another couple of points over the next few months.

"A lot of clients now are reserving a deal anywhere up to six months before, and then consistently reviewing this with a mortgage advisor, all the way up until their new deal kicks in.

"So, if the rates do drop down, people have got that benefit where they can cancel what they've done, and take a new, lower interest rate.

"However, if the interest rates go up, then they've already tied themselves into a deal anywhere up to six months before their current deal ends.

"It's all about acting early and speaking to an expert around what options are available.

"In some cases, it is about thinking what you can cut back on to make sure you can keep that roof over your head.

"For first time buyers whose deals are coming to an end, and perhaps overbought the first time around, they're seeing the greater impact, because their mortgage payments are probably jumping up a lot more than they've ever been used to.

"So, in cases like this, people have been reacting quite emotionally to these changes."

The majority of economists think it'll jump another 0.25 percentage points to 5.25%.

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