I am absolutely useless with financial understanding. I wish I was better, but I'm not, so I'd really love some advice!
My 5 year fixed product has just ended. We were on 1.89%.
Gone on to variable of 8.25% now.
I want to fix, and am being quoted 4.33% for a 5 year fix, or 4.53% for a 2 year fix.
No product fees on either.
15 years of repayment left.
We will stay with the same provider as ivd entered all our details in to MSE and looking at all the deals on offer, our current provider is on a par with them all.
My big headache is - fix for 5 years or 2 years?
Currently giving myself a hard time as 2 weeks ago I was offered 3.99% but I didn't accept it as the BoE was expected to drop it's base rate, which I waited for and it did, and I thought that would reduce the mortgage rates but the opposite has happened and 2 weeks later it's increased to 4.33%. This is making me panic - that it's risen that much in 2 weeks.
I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. If I fix for 5 years I will be absolutely hammering myself if rates drop over the next year or two, because every little penny saved each month makes a massive deal to us.
Meanwhile, if I fix for 2 years and at the end rates have increased, I will hammer myself for that too, again, because even a small amount of money each month makes a massive difference to us.
I know none of us has a crystal ball, but this is so hard.
We are really struggling every month due to COL inflation, we're honestly really impacted by rises in fuel, groceries, utilities, etc.
2 young DC of 12 and 10.
We're older parents aged 50 and didn't expect to be in such financial challenges at this age when I was a younger adult.
We're middle earners public sector. No pay rise for 10 years whilst COL has risen exponentially has made us worse off in real terms than we were a decade ago and it's reeeeeally depressing the hell out of me. Thought we'd be financially comfortable by now, at least. But we're even worse off.
So that's why I'm in a pickle about how long to fix for.
Keep thinking the USA election will unsettle the worldwide economy and affect interest rates, but maybe I'm overthinking things?
Thanks for any advice anyone with financial skills could give!