It looks good news, but is it?

The snow invaded and the UK ground to a halt! Although good fun and great to see, the underlying effect amounted to some £3.5bn in lost revenues to businesses, experts have predicted. Add this to an increase in insurance claims (myself being a snow accident statistic!) and you quickly realise it’s been an expensive week. But at least some are spending; the sale of 4x4 vehicles locally seems to have increased!!
More positive movements over the last week with a noticeable expansion in 'sold' signs around the local area and a further Bank of England Base Rate(BBR) reduction to an all time low of 1%. The latter greeted with both applause and despair! Great news for those on tracker mortgages, but bad for the economy. With lenders Standard Variable Rates decreasing, those coming to the end of their fixed rate periods need not move mortgages or lenders. However, we need this to happen so money moves between lenders to get the economy flowing again. Plus, the banks aren’t always passing on the full base rate cut; one rather large (government owned) institution only reduced their rates recently by 0.19% and not the full 0.50%!
Don't ‘panic buy and move’ your mortgage. You may be on a fixed rate and eyeing up some superb tracker rates on offer, but will it put you in a better position? Your current fixed rate may have a redemption penalty, so will cost you to change. It is also likely that a new tracker rate will have a large arrangement fee and tie you in for a few years. It’s unlikely that BBR will remain low for long as there’s the small matter of £228bn lent to the banks, that needs paying back. Guess who’s going to be hit for that!? Thus, check before you do anything abruptly. For free mortgage advice, speak to AToM…