To think we may be heading for the old days of massive interest rates?

[icarriedawatermelon2]

15% Were they really that high?!

Is it time to fix our motgage rates?

What makes you think that interest rates will increase to those levels? I can't see base rates going anything over 1% unless there is a truly spectacular recovery in the economy.

base rates. I can't see them going down .

15% no I don't think they will go back to that. If inflation goes out of control many think we will see 2.5% next year.

!5% would mean thousands of repossessions and a complete crash.

I don't think they'll go anywhere near that high.

I do think though that people have very short memories: 5% is now seen as a high base rate whereas historically (comparing with the last 50 years or so) it's very low.

Bloody hope not, we're on a tracker and we've been thinking how lucky we are all this time!!

They're predicted to go to about 5% over the next 18 months apparently...but on the other hand they have been saying for about 6 months they will be raised soon and they are still where they are, so fingers crossed!!

Yes - annapolly you are right - so many people would lose their houses if it went up v high, hopefully the govt wouldn't want that in the middle of a recession....hopefully anyway!

15%?

That was in the 80's wasn't it?

I've got used to it being low now.

It's my money get you're hands off it bank wankers!

"They're predicted to go to about 5% over the next 18 months apparently" Yes that's what I have heard.

We are 1/2 % above the base rate. Don't know if to fix or stay as we are.

I just think there is so much doom and gloom at the moment......all a bit worrying :(

Yes I think it was the 80's. My mum and dad had just had me and taken on their first mortage and wam! interst rates went through the roof.

that takes me back when they were 15% we had a small morgage but was still £700

dont think they wil get anywhere near that,but thankful that i dont have a morgage anymore

dont know how those with large morgages will cope if they climb high,but also think that when you take out a morgage you have to budget in for rate rises as well as falls

I fixed ours for 10 years at 5.2% late last year. Friends think I am mad. We shall see.....

god writing that makes me sound so old,im only 39 now,morgaged young

I've read - but can't remember where or how it works exactly - that something is built into the economy so they won't ever get that high again (famous last words). Hope that puts your mind at rest.

Lets hope your right Tabliope!
theywillgrowup "but also think that when you take out a morgage you have to budget in for rate rises as well as falls

ummmm yes but there is a MASSIVE difference between 5% and 15%!

Well done you though for being morgage free.....I am very ! x

Heh heh, I remember paying £700/month on our £60,000 mortgage in the late 1980s.

Some people really have no idea how low interest rates have been for decades.

Scary isn't it - unless you fix you have no guarantee on what you'll be paying, but if we'd fixed 5 years ago we'd be thousands out of pocket by now....

....gamble isn't it!! Shouldn't be that way with your house I think somehow!

I shouldn't think they will go that high.

For a start the government can't change them on a whim any longer - I think half a point off before an election used to be fairly standard!

We won't take on any more mortgage than we could pay if interest rates were 8% though, just in case.

i really cant see a massive jump that would take long long time and that 15% was a short time though as bibbity says peeps who took out morgages in the last 5yrs dont realise just what we used to pay

think if i was in this position would be looking to fix,and if they were to go pretty high cant see anybody moving,so very negative within the property market

god things seem so depressing at the moment with cuts etc

Yes it was 1980s: basically, Labour were kicked out in 1979, just as UK slid into deep recession. Oil crisis issues didn't help (OPEC were the greedy bankers of their day). In 1980s, interest rates hit 17% as the recessions was (painfully) dealt with (I think they may have even hit 20% at one time - anyone know for sure?). About 11% by end 80s, and brought down much further in 1990s.

Remember mortgage rates are usually higher than the base rates.

Interest rates are atypically low. They will have to rise, but when and how much - who knows or dares to dream?

I think the typical base rate is somewhere in the region of 8%.

If anyone what's to research ot thoroughly, the Bank of England website has a spreadsheet with data going back to the 1600s

icarrie thanks yeah morgage free and a great feeling but was achieved in not the best way,anyway feel for those worrying about rises

There are going to be massive mortgage rate hikes, hopefully not as high as 15% but fixing soon IMO is a good idea. And save up for when the fixed period ends!!!!

IIRC the 15% was a shortlived anomaly on Black wednesday - the typical levels were more like 10%

That of course was base rate, mortgage rates would have been higher. I remember colleagues going around ashen faced that day, calculating what their monthly payments would be.

i was in a bingo hall on black wednesday when they made the announcment (the bingo hall stopped the game to tell us)

IAmTheCookieMonster Are you an insider?!

Yes - 1985 I bought my first house and interest rates were 15%. Good news was I had taken on a mortgage i could afford at 15% so when rates started to come down - as they did soon after- I started to feel well off.

Mind you my first house only cost £18,000!