Interest rates cut to 3%

[caliAl]

Great news for me

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7713006.stm

[grahamc]

just saw... hopefully the banks start to pass this savings on now!

[caliAl]

yep, saves me £160 a month

[AndrewOW]

Yes, I've just read this. As soon as they pass this on to us, then I want to re-mortgage!

 

Its a bit of a desperate move thought, isn't it?!

[Thorin]

Great news for me, mortgage comes to the end of the 3 year fixed period soon so will be looking at getting a new deal.

[Al Massey]

might have to buy a house now

[SteveR]

just saw... hopefully the banks start to pass this savings on now!

Get real, they all put their rates UP this week, prior to the announcement. The banks are screwed, they will pass the rate cut on- to savers- and up the rate to borrowers, to try and recover some liquidity.

This will take years to unfold.

 

Cutting the base rate will only devalue sterling further, it won't help Mr Joe Public, and in fact it also now harms savers as well as borrowers. Plain stupid.

[AndrewOW]

Great news for me, mortgage comes to the end of the 3 year fixed period soon so will be looking at getting a new deal.

 

This would be great. Hooray!

 

Get real, they all put their rates UP this week, prior to the announcement. The banks are screwed, they will pass the rate cut on- to savers- and up the rate to borrowers, to try and recover some liquidity.

This will take years to unfold.

 

Cutting the base rate will only devalue sterling further, it won't help Mr Joe Public, and in fact it also now harms savers as well as borrowers. Plain stupid.

 

 

More likely. Boo!

[Thorin]

Get real, they all put their rates UP this week, prior to the announcement. The banks are screwed, they will pass the rate cut on- to savers- and up the rate to borrowers, to try and recover some liquidity.

This will take years to unfold.

 

Cutting the base rate will only devalue sterling further, it won't help Mr Joe Public, and in fact it also now harms savers as well as borrowers. Plain stupid.

 

It means my re-mortgage will be a hell of a lot cheaper than it was going to be. Savings? What are they? Got a lot in the bank and feeling bitter are we?

[tbourner]

If you are able to save money you shouldn't be wanting MORE!! Give it to us that can't save!

[grahamc]

Get real, they all put their rates UP this week, prior to the announcement. The banks are screwed, they will pass the rate cut on- to savers- and up the rate to borrowers, to try and recover some liquidity.

This will take years to unfold.

 

Cutting the base rate will only devalue sterling further, it won't help Mr Joe Public, and in fact it also now harms savers as well as borrowers. Plain stupid.

 

Have to agree, but we will see. Especially since the government has share of some of the banks.

 

It means my re-mortgage will be a hell of a lot cheaper than it was going to be. Savings? What are they? Got a lot in the bank and feeling bitter are we?

 

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/ninety%11nine-percent-have-fuck-all-anyway-200810131318/

 

[SteveR]

It means my re-mortgage will be a hell of a lot cheaper than it was going to be. Savings? What are they? Got a lot in the bank and feeling bitter are we?

Had a look at the rates recently? Did you miss the bit about BANK RATES (those are the ones you pay) going up?

 

All this does is widen the gap between BoE base rate and LIBOR. Its LIBOR you want to watch.

[ivan]

No mortgage here, only savings.

[SteveR]

Abbey hikes mortgage rates ahead of Bank of England decision (4th Nov 2008)

http://www.citywire.co.uk/personal/-/news/money-property-and-tax/content.aspx?ID=319832

 

Abbey today increased the cost of its tracker mortgages by 0.5% - just two days before the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates by at least a similar amount.

 

Abbey said it had been forced to hike rates in response to similar moves by competitors, particularly Halifax, Nationwide and Northern Rock. Lenders have continued to hike rates and tighten lending criteria in recent weeks as they look to reduce their exposure to the UK housing market.

 

Northern Rock is owned by the Government FFS - if they ignore rate cuts and defy the BoE by UPPING them, why would you expect the other banks to do any different?

[Thorin]

Had a look at the rates recently? Did you miss the bit about BANK RATES (those are the ones you pay) going up?

 

All this does is widen the gap between BoE base rate and LIBOR. Its LIBOR you want to watch.

 

Er yes, rates went up, no surprise there unless you've been on Mars and managed to miss the whole "credit crunch" thing. However, they're now coming down again.

 

Once the fixed period comes to an end on my mortgage the rate is fixed at 1.2% (I think) above the BoE base rate. I believe most are the same?

[razza]

Happy days for me, BoE -0.01% (with no lower limit) until March 2010, then BoE +0.59% for the rest of the mortgage term, got that one in just before they went nuts and changed everything this year

[grahamc]

CnG are the same, max of 2% above BOE rate

[SteveR]

Er yes, rates went up, no surprise there unless you've been on Mars and managed to miss the whole "credit crunch" thing. However, they're now coming down again.

No, rates ARE GOING UP NOW.

 

Once the fixed period comes to an end on my mortgage the rate is fixed at 2% above the BoE base rate. I believe most are the same?

Most mortages aren't truely fixed on the BoE base rate. Lots of supposedly "tracker" mortgages have gone up.

 

You miss the point, the banks are absolutely sh*tting themselves, as they are almost all -technically- insolvent. They HAVE to raise a LOT more cash, and start doing so urgently, if they are to survive. So far they have:

• asked shareholders for more money [tick] - after which eth share prices bombed as people realised the problems were FAR worse than previously thought, and only this week they got worse; we're far, far from the bottom of this mess
  
• taken handouts from UK and global governments [tick] (but then 'cheekily' not lending any extra money or passing on rate cuts - who'd have thunk it:rolleyes:)
  
• raised the interest they charge for credit, and lowering what they pay on deposits [happening now]

 

 

Very few mortgages will become cheaper (watch the arrangement and early payment charges on those for the full story!), most of them have small print saying the rate which they will track might be the BoE base rate (plus a %), or it might be another rate that suits them better, e.g. an averaging of their competitors.

[Babe]

As Steve R says... it’s LIBOR that counts, some of this cut may get passed on to borrowers, but doubt it will be all of it.

 

I have no savings as I’ve just used them buying a house... I got a 5 year fixed rate – no tracker mortgage available to me as I’m a teacher (obviously a seriously high risk!).

Means Sprog’s savings are going to suffer, and so are her grandparents.

[grahamc]

...Very few mortgages will become cheaper (watch the arrangement and early payment charges on those for the full story!), most of them have small print saying the rate which they will track might be the BoE base rate (plus a %), or it might be another rate that suits them better, e.g. an averaging of their competitors.

 

Very good point! Its all in the fine print....

[Thorin]

No, rates ARE GOING UP NOW.

 

 

Most mortages aren't truely fixed on the BoE base rate. Lots of supposedly "tracker" mortgages have gone up.

 

You miss the point, the banks are absolutely sh*tting themselves, as they are almost all -technically- insolvent. They HAVE to raise a LOT more cash, and start doing so urgently, if they are to survive. So far they have:

• asked shareholders for more money [tick] - after which eth share prices bombed as people realised the problems were FAR worse than previously thought, and only this week they got worse; we're far, far from the bottom of this mess
  
• taken handouts from UK and global governments [tick] (but then 'cheekily' not lending any extra money or passing on rate cuts - who'd have thunk it:rolleyes:)
  
• raised the interest they charge for credit, and lowering what they pay on deposits [happening now]

 

 

Very few mortgages will become cheaper (watch the arrangement and early payment charges on those for the full story!), most of them have small print saying the rate which they will track might be the BoE base rate (plus a %), or it might be another rate that suits them better, e.g. an averaging of their competitors.

 

 

My bad, this is all bad news and I'm completely f*cked then. FFS.

[penguin]

happy days! i'm gonna try and get a fixed for life type product lol

[Snooze]

Well, mine IS going down. My A&L mortgage is contractually tied to BoE base rate, so I will be saving.

 

However, I'm still strongly of the opinion that dropping the interest rate like this is absolutely the worst thing for the country.

It will stave off depression for another couple of years, but then we'll just be looking at an even worse crash. And in the meantime, house prices will be staying at unsupportable levels and inflation will be going through the roof.

 

It's a pretty insane decision if you ask me. Don't be surprised if hyperinflation happens within just a few years - the Pound will be going the same way as the Zimbabwean Dollar and then we're all completely screwed.

 

The cynic in me suggests that senior banking officials, the rich people of the world, govenrment bodies etc. are all for just dropping rates to prop up the economy for a couple of years - just long enough for them to get their personal investments out, and then they'll p*ss off to various islands in the sun and leave the whole lot to come crashing down.

 

 

AND ANOTHER THING!

 

Japan's spent the last 20 years suffering as a result of trying to buy their way out of a depression and they at least are a country that's a net creditor nation! As a country we ARE going to suffer by going down this route - as a net debtor nation it's going to be 10 times worse than Japan had it.

 

The only way out is to take the pain ASAP. Put up rates. Cut state handouts.

People will end up homeless, starving on the streets. Yes. I'm afraid so. But it's going to get exponentially worse the longer we leave it!

[Thorin]

However, I'm still strongly of the opinion that dropping the interest rate like this is absolutely the worst thing for the country.

It will stave off depression for another couple of years, but then we'll just be looking at an even worse crash.

 

I don't agree, what would you have them do instead, keep it at the current unmaintainable levels or raise it?

 

I think there are a few people out there making the decisions that know a bit more about this that a few forum posters. But as long as it means my mortgage isn't going to be sky high next year I'm happy.

 

edit: I see you added a bit to your post. OK so lets put the interest rates up again, thousands more will be homeless, many more businesses will close, and the economy will magically recover... oh wait.

[imi]

yep, saves me £160 a month

 

if they pass down the savings