Martin Lewis says homeowners could knock thousands of their bills - if they act now
11.05.2022 - 16:27
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis says households in the UK could knock thousands off their bills - if they act now. The ITV presenter has warned that homeowners should check their mortgage immediately.
According to Martin, the Bank of England raised interest rates for the fourth consecutive time last week. The consumer expert said those on variable tariffs have around 30 days to shop around before their bills rise, while others on soon-to-expire fixed deals may want to consider locking in a new tariff now.
"The cheapest rates have disappeared - if your fix ends soon-ish or you're on the standard rate, check NOW if you can save," explained Mr Lewis in Wednesday's MSE newsletter. The 0.25 per cent point base rate increase will likely take a month to feed through to most standard variable rates (SVRs), though some tracker rates have already gone up. It will add roughly £12/moth per £100,000 of mortgage," Mr Lewis added.
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Fixed rate deals are slowly creeping up. Last autumn there were over 50 fixed-rate mortgage deals below 1pc. Now the lowest fix is 2.1pc. That means for someone with a £200,000, 30-year mortgage, the cheapest rate today would cost £120 a month more than October's cheapest.
"With further rate rises predicted, and many lenders' default standard variable rates heading to 5pc, checking if you can save by changing deal is a must-do," Mr Lewis added. You may not save as much compared to a few months back, but compared to doing nowt, switching could still help you save £1,000s."
Further hikes to base rate are expected, and analysts Capital Economics expect it to hit 1.25pc by the end of 2022 and 2pc in 2023. You do not even