Has There Ever Been a Better Time to Re-mortgage?

Credit: Tax Credits

Make no mistake; the recent slight collywobbles in the world’s major economies is good news for entrepreneurs and investors alike – on the whole that is.

That’s because this has achieved two very important things at the same time:

Firstly, it has made the valuations of most things such as equities, properties, commodities and so on more affordable. So this is unequivocally good news as long as you’d kept at least a little of your powder dry.

And secondly – it has pushed away the spectre of imminently rising interest rates for a while. This won’t last forever, though, so it’s a good idea to strike while the iron is hot here. Simply put – there may never have been a better time to re-mortgage. This is because the overall recovery is underway – but the wobbles mean that there are still some great deals available at fixed rates.

Be careful on the fees though if you’re thinking about re-mortgaging. The main fee is the penalty in exiting any current deal you have – and this may effectively preclude transferal to a new product for the term, so make sure you’ve read your fine print and know exactly what charges you’re in for.

Also – with any new deal, make sure you understand exactly what you’re likely to be charged for. Many mortgage deals look too good to be true – and that’s because they are. The devil is often in the detail here with transfer charges from the new mortgage provider, arrangement fees, legal fees and general administrative hassle that you don’t need.

This is not always the case though. With a new mortgage from HSBC there are no such fees whatsoever – and this is guaranteed. What’s more – the deal is available for up to five years on a fixed basis. There is more information on the mortgage product here

Obviously, the longer you fix for, the higher the interest rate, but don’t worry about that; if you can afford the five-year deal payments – be sure to go for that one. Certainty is a big thing and exceedingly rare with any financial transactions and the fixed deals for five years surely won’t last forever – as interest rates will surely rise.

This time next year, we may well be into a whole new realm of economic forecasting and governments may be keen to shore up currencies and cool down demand. Who really knows what will happen? But this is certainly a possibility and you don’t want to be sweating over central banks’ decisions if you can afford not to; peace of mind is a priceless commodity.

All in all, then, this may be the perfect time to fix a new deal and to make it as long-term as you can. And if the world doesn’t pan out that way and you could have paid less because interest rates continue to stay lower than their historical averages – at least you’ll have been able to relax and enjoy life knowing your house was eminently affordable for five years – and having been able to sleep well at night in that knowledge.