Poll: Could you cope if interest rates rose?
As the Bank of England today held interest rates at their record low of 0.5% for another month, we want to know what affect a future rise would have on people's finances?
Despite recent evidence that the UK economy is continuing to recover, most economists do not expect the bank to increase interest rates until the first half of next year, as the bank's policymakers continue to believe that it is too early to scale back stimulus efforts.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation at 1.7% is comfortably below the bank's 2% targe, while according to the International Monetary Fund, the UK is set to be the world's fastest-growing major advanced economy this year with GDP expected to increase by 2.9%.
Could you cope if interest rates rose? Vote in our poll and have your say in the comment box below.
The news on interest rates came as Halifax said that home owners have typically earned enough cash by today to cover their mortgage payments for the whole of 2014.
Halifax declared April 10 as "mortgage freedom day" - meaning that on average if someone living in the UK put every penny they had earned since the start of the year towards their mortgage, from the 100th day of 2014 they would be mortgage-free for the rest of the year.
