Advice for remortgagers

Date:Thursday 27th November 2008
Author: Rachel Fletcher

Homeowners needing to remortgage may be able to take advantage of the low base rate by going for tracker or discount mortgages.

Writing on finance website Fool.co.uk, Alison Hunt said that borrowers on variable rates or those needing to remortgage should make such a switch in order to make the best of any future cuts in the base rate, explaining that there has been speculation that more reductions could be on the way.

She noted that people on expensive fixed-rate deals probably should not switch if they have small deposits.

But those with deposits of 25 per cent or more may be able to save by changing products, even taking the added costs of penalties and fees into account.

But Ms Hunt did warn that the base rate cannot be predicted with certainty.

Meanwhile, Christina Jordan of Moneysupermarket.com offered advice on MSN Money to borrowers who needed to take up their lenders' standard variable rates (SVRs) when they could not find any remortgage deals.

She said that recent falls in interest rates had been good news for such borrowers and that people reverting to an SVR would not pay for remortgaging.