quick Q - I'm remortgaging at the moment. The best deal is a fixed rate at 4.15 - is it a mad time to fix?

[padboz]

Are they going to pass on any more cuts?

trackers are better value at the moment

trackers are rare as rocking horse poo right now, unless you have at least 25% equity/deposit to put down.

I need to borrow 112 and the house is valued at 200 on zoopla today

who's the 4.15 with and what are the fees attached?

How long is it fixed for?
If you need the security of knowing how much is going out of your budget each mionth, then it's best to fix.

base rate plus 1.49% life tracker

How long is the fixed rate term for? Base rate can only fall a max of 2% more ie to 0% (and there is no guarantee that lenders will pass this all on). Once the recession is over, rates will start hiking up again so if it is for a reasonable term then probably worth it imo.

the 4.15 is with abbey and its fixed for 23 months.... there is a 800 fee and its been rolled into the amount

thanks by the way, I appreciate your thoughts

You're better off paying any fees upfront because you'll be paying interest on that £800 for 25 years!

I've just remortgaged to a tracker - it was a gamble at the time, but has paid off, I will fix at some point in the next year or so, but not sure best fixes are available yet. £800 fee is pretty high for just 23 months of security

oooh - good point.

It looks like a reasonable deal but there are better ones around at the moment - £800 fee for 2 year fix sounds quite a lot too - agree with Advent it doesn't make sense to roll up the fee - you will end up paying a lot more than £800 in the end - which is why they offer to do it

this might be a daft question - so that I dont have to come up with the 800 now can I roll it in and then overpay it when I can afford it to the same end? I wouldnt end up paying too much then, would I? (there is an overpay facility)

yep! Where, as you say, you can overpay without penalty.

Try and get a really geeky mortgage bod. I had one last year, and I had him calculating how long it would take to amortise fees (because you pay a higher fee for a lower rate, or a lower fee for a higher rate, so it's hard at a glance to see which is better) and generally laying it all out clearly, and he was just so excited about using his little calculator and everything. Sweet.

Well, our current deal is coming to an end & we've just settled on a fixed rate of 4.50% for 3 years with our current lender. They waived the £999 arrangement fee & an advisor I to spoke said it was a pretty good deal-when it ends we'll only have another 3 years left so I'm quite happy. I was a bit annoyed when the interest rate dropped again but I still think we've done the right thing.

That first direct tracker product looks very good - can anyone advise - thanks.