to be seriously seriously fekked off that I signed up for a 5.63% fixed rate mortgage in May 2008?

[bibbitybobbityhat]

I can't bring myself to think about the money we would have saved if I'd gone for a variable or tracker.

How am I to know what interest rates are going to do in the future? I am no kind of soothsayer.

V v v v v annoyed and resentful and bitter.

I absolutely do not claim to know better than the experts and I'm not saying that I foresaw the crash or liquidity crisis. When we re-mortgaged in early 2008 all the economic data that I saw and all economic writers that I read were predicting that a (potentially deep) recession was on the way. That almost always leads to an eventual drop in inflation and a resultant fall in interest rates. Also, the inflationary pressures seemed to me to be outside of the control of interest rates so I didn't expect the BoE to hold off cutting them because of rising inflation because the economy was in so much trouble. Many others were saying the same thing. In 2007 your friends may have quite reasonably have thought that IRs would rise in 2008, but the economy can change very quickly: earlier this year the consensus was that IRs would start to rise from the spring and now it appears they are off the cards for the forseeable future.

I had no idea that IRs would fall as low as they did and I remember discussing with dh the possibility that rates could rise quickly after the recession, hence taking out a tracker with no early redemption penalties.

Also, IIRC historically fixed rates generally do work out more expensive than fixed rates because you are paying a premium for the security of knowing your mortgage payments for some years ahead.

2008? Have you looked at how much it would be to buy yourself out? We did. It wasn't as much as we were expecting.

YANBU to be fed up that you are paying more than you probably need to, but OTOH, I suspect you would feel a whole lot worse if you had not opted for the security of a fixed rate and then the rates had risen to a level that you could not afford!

Many years ago, I worked in a building society at a time when we would come in to work each day to find customers had literally posted their door keys through our letterbox because they could no longer afford to keep their homes and had 'done a moonlight'. I remember when the last conservative government told everyone they should aspire to owning their own home, forced councils to sell their properties to the tenants at highly discounted rates and then, just a few years later, had the cheek to tellthose same people they should have forseen the massive rises in interest rates ( as high as 15% at one point) and 'allowed for it' when doing their family budgets.

I would rather pay a bit over the odds for the security of knowing that I can at least afford my mortgage every month, that to take a chance that rates will stay as low as they have done.

We fixed 4 years ago at just over 5% - I'm happy about it.

Even when you look at the comparison charts, lots of the good deals end up at an APR of 5% or more. I checked lots of comparisons at the time and when the droped the rate. And we still had a good deal. Not all the lenders pass on the low base rates at all. Same with credit cards and loans etc. Base rate 0.5% ave loan over 6%. An this low rate is unprecedented - you can;t tell the future - I don't imagine many expecting this.

We did it based on the fact if things went up, we'd have struggled with making up the difference. I knew we were paying for peace of mind - although perhaps a little more than I anticipated.

When our rate runs out, I'm going to reduce the number of years (again) and hopefully 'catchup' that way to try and get paid off asap. Its amazing how little you can pay extra to shave years off.

Here - have a look

www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/

Some of the best rates have high fees and you need a huge deposit...

I'm more scared/stressed as to what we do when our fixed rate runs our next year, than I am bothered that we've overpaid slightly. I view it as 'rent' and essential security - and try to be more frugal in other aspects of our finances.

At least you don't have a Northern Rock Together mortgage with negative equity where they won't even put you onto a new rate apart from SVR .

5.99% 5 year fixed rate ends 1st November and then goes onto SVR for the rest of my life until I retire.

and I actually work for a lender so should have known better but was greedy and wanted to escape London

Shit I bet that hurts - we've been lucky

I've recently taken out a fixed mortgage at 3.99% for 3 years.

Couldn't give a shit how much we could be saving. We can easily afford the repayments and we know we are protected against rises for that time.

I think you need to be relatively wealthy or very brave to risk it.

I am neither of those things.

awwww stripybump!!!!

look lets hope we all go onto a nice standard variable rate in 2012????

I am BANKING on this

we found atm, there's not much difference between the svr and mortgage deals on offer so just stayed on the svr to save on the fees. what's happened to mortgage fees?, last time we switched am sure it was about £250, now they are asking for ££££'s.

YANBU - we have been on a fix (5.05%? can't remember) for 5 years, it ends this month thank goodness, we will be about £300 a month better off, so will probably overpay by that amount as we are used to the mortgage at its current level. Obviously the fix was OK for the first couple of years, less good since - but I am risk averse, so overall not a disaster from that pov.

You took a Risk Management decision. It has ended up costing you money but presumably you did it because you would have been in real trouble if e.g. mortgage interest rates went to 15% or more (they did under that dreadful Thatcher woman and it hit me very hard)

You have the same right to be upset, as if you'd been insuring your house against fire for 5 years, and it hadn't burned down.