Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

How would an interest rate rise affect you?

How would an interest rate rise affect you?

Everyone in the UK will be affected by rising prices - from a higher gas bill, to harder choices during the grocery shop.

The idea of raising interest rates is to keep those current and predicted price rises, measured by the rate of inflation, under control.

Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive. For households, that could mean higher mortgage costs, although - for the vast majority of homeowners - the impact is not immediate, and some will escape it entirely.

Analysts are also warning that the potential benefit of a better return on savings could be muted.

Homeowner impact


Even before any decision is made by the Bank of England's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, there are signs that the era of ultra-low mortgage rates is at an end.

Some lenders have already started to raise rates for those applying for a new home loan.

It has been an extraordinary period of cheap mortgages, and - in the last few months - there have even been good deals for first-time buyers unable to offer much of a deposit.

Brokers are expecting any rises in mortgage rates to be "slow and measured", which would mean mortgages would stay cheap by historical standards for some time.


It is a little-discussed fact that only about a third of adults have a mortgage.

About a third rent their home, another third have either never had a mortgage or have paid it off. Those figures come from the English Housing Survey, which is geographically limited, but one of the most comprehensive guides available.

Some 74% of mortgage holders in the UK are on fixed-rate deals, so would only see a change in their repayments when their current term ends, according to banking trade body UK Finance.

Of the remainder, 850,000 homeowners are on tracker deals, and the other 1.1 million are on standard variable rates (SVRs). They are the people likely to feel an immediate impact were the Bank rate to rise.

If their rates mirrored a Bank rate rise to 0.25% from its current level of 0.1%, then a typical tracker mortgage customer's monthly repayment would go up by £15.45. The typical SVR customer would be paying £9.58 more a month, UK Finance figures show.

If there were a much bigger Bank rate rise to 1%, and lenders raised their rates by the equivalent amount, then the average tracker customer would pay £93 a month more, and the typical SVR customer would pay £57 a month more.

That would be a further squeeze on their household budget at a time when people have been used to years of cheap borrowing and relatively slow-rising prices.

Every mortgage applicant since 2014 would have needed to prove in stress test that they can pay at a rate of about 6% or 7% - the idea being that a small rate rise may be uncomfortable, but not unmanageable, for homeowners.

Katie Brain, from independent analysts Defaqto, says rates "had to start going back up at some point" but reminds anyone looking for a mortgage that any benefits of a low-rate deal could be wiped out if the applicant ignores expensive fees.

Time to save?


A collective sigh of relief would be heard from savers were interest rates to rise, but it could quickly be followed by a sharp intake of breath.

Analysts warn that, even if the Bank rate rises, there is no guarantee of that being reflected in better returns on savings.


Savers are often borrowers too, but the money in the bank has effectively been falling in value for some time.

Anna Bowes, of website Savings Champion, says that rates have been falling in the last year, even though the Bank of England's base rate was unchanged.

People are receiving pennies in interest for every £100 they keep in savings for a year. A Bank rate rise will do little to change that scenario.

The average interest rate for an easy-access account you can open today is 0.14%. For easy-access accounts closed to new customers, it is 0.22%.

The highest paying easy-access account has an interest rate of 0.66%.

Sarah Coles, from investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, says many savers have switched off from paying much attention to their returns.

"When we asked people whether they knew what they were earning on their savings, two in five admitted they had no idea," she says.

"Even those who think they have a handle on their savings may well be off the mark. When we asked people what they were making on their easy access savings, most of them wildly overestimated."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×