Q. What’s better – fixed or variable?

I love this question! My usual answer is “Let’s look after you and not worry about what’s happening in the big wide world”.

With fluctuating interest rates not a huge problem at the moment (they’ve been pretty steady for over 10 years now) and an increase the only possible direction they could go in the future, as an adviser I often tell people to not worry about ‘crystal ball gazing’ and to just concentrate on  their own situation.

If an increase in interest rates would significantly affect your monthly budget, and you want to ensure that any future interest rate increase does not affect you for the immediate future (let’s say between 2 to 5 years), then there are mortgage products available to protect you from such increases. Therefore a ‘Fixed Rate’ mortgage deal is the most suitable product to chose. Lenders also have to ‘crystal ball gaze’ into the future, and so ‘Fixed Rate’ deals tend to be slightly higher than Variable Rate deals, with the longer term deals being slightly higher than the shorter term deals.

However, if you are in a comfortable position financially, and feel that an interest rate increase would not affect you too much, the ‘Variable Rate’ mortgage products (such as Tracker, Discount, Capped or a combination of these types) might be appropriate. As lenders are protected against market forces turning against them, interest rates are typically slightly less for ‘Variable Rate’ mortgage deals.

As with all these matters, a conversation needs to take place to determine your ‘attitude to risk’ so that the correct mortgage product is able to be recommended to you.

Now this question has been answered, why not call me now?

Let’s get the ball rolling for you !