Mortgage misery for buyers

My old fixed-rate mortgage came to an end recently and so off I set in search of a new one, writes blogger Emnma Suddaby.

Well, to give myself full credit, I’d had the finishing date of the old mortgage written in my diary for many months so I could start the search for a new one in plenty of time to ensure I wouldn’t slip on to the variable rate at all between deals. As advised. That’s how sensible I’ve been.

So I hunted and consulted and eventually found a reasonable new deal, bearing in mind the huge jump in interest rates since I took the original mortgage out six years ago. I even made sure my new deal was fixed for no longer than two years because in these uncertain times, who knows what’s going to happen just around the financial corner, let alone two years down the line?! 

I thought I’d covered all the bases, and if nothing else, felt like I’d done all I could to look after my own finances. Again, as advised.

Wrong!

Because, guess what happened the very next day? That’s right, the day after I signed myself into a two year fixed-rate mortgage with the rate at its peak, the Bank of England decided to slash the interest rate in a bid to help those struggling with variable rate mortgages.

Of course this is great news for all those on variable rate mortgages and good luck to them, but what about everyone else? If I hadn’t bothered to keep on top of my finances, had just left it all to chance, turns out I would’ve been better off right now. Similarly, those who have saved their money, investing in their own futures by putting a little bit away here, a little bit there, have had the rug pulled out from underneath them. In fact, the poor savers get the least sympathy of all the credit-crunch losers - unfair when often they are relying on the interest earned on savings as an income, which let’s not forget, makes one-less income for the rest of us to provide.

It just seems to me like the more you try to help yourself lately, the less help you’re offered, and the less you bother to help yourself, the more support you’re given… And that can’t be right, can it? 

Just like it can’t be right that spending more money could ever be the solution to a problem caused by spending too much money, it just doesn’t make sense, on any level.  So I know it won’t be long before that interest rate starts creeping back up the scale by enough to give my currently forlorn, fixed-rate deal a bit of its shine back. And though we all welcome good financial news of any kind in the current climate, Number 10 would do well to remember that we also know a short-term fix, a crowd-pleaser, a vote-attracter, a feel-good-factor producer when we see one, too. 

Hmmm…wonder how long it’ll be before an election is called? Not that I’m cynical…