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Daily Telegraph seeking mortgage experts

ended 28. October 2021

A journalist at the Telegraph is writing a quick piece on lenders increasing mortgage rates. She is aware that Natwest, HSBC and Barclays have all put up rates this week, but are there any other smaller lenders that have done the same? Also, is this cranking up the heat for borrowers to lock into low rates whilst they can? Deadline is dead, err, tight. - 16:00.

9 responses from the Newspage community

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Aaron Strutt
Product and Communications Director at Trinity Financial
"We have not had as many rate changes since the lockdown hit and some of the biggest lenders pulled out of the market. We are getting lots of calls from borrowers who are frustrated they did not secure one of the sub-1% fixes. If you are on the hunt for a mortgage or your rate is due to revert onto a standard variable rate, it is advisable to choose a new deal before they go up even more. Most of the changes apply to the cheapest rates and those with the largest deposits. At the moment, lower deposit first-time buyer rates are not getting more expensive. If the base rate does not increase next week, there is a chance some of these rate hikes will be reversed and they will come down again, especially as the providers have huge lending targets to meet."
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Ross Boyd
CEO at Dashly.com
"Where the big lenders go the rest will surely follow and this will certainly be the case with interest rates as we see rates start to go up from their historic lows of the past few months. Lenders will pull their products without much notice so if borrowers don't want to miss out they need to act now. Remortgage activity levels are high and are set to remain so probably even after a rate rise in the anticipation that any increase now is the first of more to come."
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Dominik Lipnicki
Director at Your Mortgage Decisions Ltd
"It is not just the big lenders who have cranked up their rates, as we have seen the likes of BM Solutions do the same and this really is likely to be the start. Many borrowers on Standard Variable Rates (SVRs) and those coming to the end of their fixed rate periods will be rushing to secure a low rate, especially when you see the pressure on the Bank of England to increase the base rate to combat inflation. Historically, mortgage rates are still very low but the upward trend is clearly putting pressure on borrowers to mitigate the risk or rate rises."
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
"The big six lenders always compete for the best borrowers, and it's usually on rate or criteria flexibility; the rate changes that have happened are nominal and still super low; most of the increases have been around 0.1%, and this is partly down to lenders trying to maintain service levels to ensure they can service all new business coming in as there is no point having low rates on offer if you can't process the mortgage applications coming in. "If your current mortgage deal does come to an end within the next six months it's definitely worth speaking to an adviser to review your circumstances and secure the best deal."
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
"Whilst it is true that we are seeing lenders increase interest rates, I think we need to remember that we are not seeing huge jumps in rates. We are talking about rates moving from stupidly, record breakingly low, to just really low - for example Santander moved their 0.99% 5-year fixed rate to 1.34%. 1.34% is still a very low interest rate."
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Robert Payne
Director at Langley House Mortgages
"I would be surprised if every lender did not introduce some sort of rate rise before the end of the year and logically borrowers are trying to take advantage of what's available before they do. Rates are unlikely to be as low as they are now for the foreseeable future so anyone within 6 months of their current deal expiring should speak to a broker to see what their options are."
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Ashley Thomas
Director at Magni Finance
There are a lot lenders that have increased rates such as Virgin Money and Nationwide Building Society. It is definitely worth considering locking into low rates, there is a much higher probability that rates will increase further, rather than reduce to the levels we have seen in the last couple of months.
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Joshua Gerstler
Chartered Financial Planner at The Orchard Practice
"Whilst a few lenders are starting to make changes and we are seeing rates creeping up again, it is important to put this into context. Mortgage rates have been at all time lows for the past few months and even with these increases there are still some fantastic mortgage rates around. The important thing is not to panic. Shop around to find the best deal for you or if you are using an adviser they will be doing this for you."
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Jamie Thompson
Mortgage Broker at Jamie Thompson Mortgages
"Personally, I see this as more of a correction. Rates went low, probably too low with 0.83% available as recently as last month. But don't be too alarmed. These increases are small compared to the huge reductions from this time last year, hence, it's probably more of a correction by certain over-zealous rate setters at lenders trying to gain market share."