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Lock in

ended 23. March 2026

With traders now pricing in 100bps of base rate hikes this year, how important is it for borrowers to lock into a rate now if they are due to remortgage or planning to buy in the montha ahead? And are we now feasibly looking at a repeat of 2022 all over again? Is another giant ‘set’ of rate hikes now closing in on the shore and about to pound UK mortgage borrowers? What's your advice?

9 responses from the Newspage community

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Adam Stiles
Managing Director at Helix Financial Partners
Apathy now will cost you. If you are going to require a mortgage in the next six months, I cannot emphasise strongly enough the extreme importance of locking a rate in at the soonest possible opportunity to avoid your rate going higher. Don't sit on the documents you or your broker needs to submit the application. It could end up costing you a fortune. If rates do end up coming down between now and when you need the mortgage then you should be able to pivot to a lower rate depending on your circumstances.
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Andrew Montlake
CEO at Coreco
With traders now pricing in a full 1% of rate hikes in 2026, we could see another round of mortgage rate rises from lenders in the days ahead. It's starting to look incredibly bleak for borrowers and people should not hesitate to lock into a rate if they are due to buy or remortgage in the summer months. If, in the unlikely event, the war does end in the not-too-distant future, people can always remortgage onto a lower rate. You are locking in to protect against future rate rises but can still benefit from rate drops if they emerge. Failure to act and lock in now could cost borrowers a lot of money given the direction rates are headed in. Do not hesitate, act.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
The last few weeks have been a reminder that waiting for the next rate cut is not a strategy. If your mortgage is ending in the next few months, there is no good reason to sit on your hands. Lock something in now. Most brokers will monitor lender rates on your behalf and can request a switch if rates come down before your deal goes live, so you are not giving up flexibility by moving early. As for comparisons to 2022, the situations are different. But the underlying message is the same: rate uncertainty is not your friend. Act when you can, not when you have to.
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Craig Fish
Director at Lodestone Mortgages
The wave is already forming. Average two-year fixes have risen from 4.83% to 5.32% since the start of March alone and nearly 500 mortgage products have been pulled from sale as lenders react to surging swap rates.We're not waiting for 100bps of hikes to feel the pain, borrowers are feeling it right now. This isnt 2022 all over agin, just yet, becuase In 2022, 935 mortgage deals vanished in a single day. This repricing, while sharp, has been more orderly. Lenders are better prepared, but make no mistake, the direction of travel is the same, and complacency will cost people dearly.My advice is simple. If you're remortgaging or buying within the next six months, act now, lock in a rate, keep it under review, and switch if something better comes along before completion as most lenders will let you do exactly that.Don't wait for the wave to break before you move. By then, it's too late.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
Act now, it is not a time to 'wait and see', the only way is up for the foreseeable future. If you're coming to the end of a fixed rate period, it is imperative that you get something locked in before rates creep up any further.
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Martin Rayner
Financial Adviser at Compton Financial Services
You don’t need to wait until the last minute. If you go to a new lender and they will let you secure a new mortgage UP TO 6 months in advance of your current mortgage ending. Your existing lenders allow this too, although many are closer to three months. It is important to check.

In a rising rate environment, locking in early is key. It gives you protection now, but crucially you’re not tied in—if rates improve before your new deal starts, you can usually switch to the lower rate.

That makes it a WIN-WIN: you’re covered if rates rise, but still benefit if they fall.

Even small movements matter. On a £300,000 mortgage, just a 0.2% rate change is around a £1,200 difference over two years.
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Jack Tutton
Director at SJ Mortgages
The mortgage market is yet again going to go through a difficult time should the predictions become a reality, a Bate Rate increase will have wide ranging impacts to household finances whilst still dealing with the cost of living increases that started in 2022. It is vitality important for people to understand their mortgage options at their earliest opportunity, this could help protect from the future unknowns and the impacts of these predicted increases.
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Omer Mehmet
Managing Director at Trinity Finance
Never has it been more important for borrowers to lock into a rate. We have had wholesale and hefty rates rises in recent weeks and another wave of hikes from lenders could be about to pound borrowers. My advice is lock into a rate at the earliest opportunity because, at present, it feels like the only way for rates is up.
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Rohit Parmar-Mistry
Founder at Pattrn Data
Trying to time rates is usually a losing game. The better question for borrowers is whether your budget can absorb a worse case path, not whether the market is about to repeat 2022.

If you are remortgaging in the next 3 to 6 months, it is worth securing a product early if the lender allows a rate to be reserved, because it buys you optionality. You can often switch to a cheaper deal later if rates fall, but you cannot retroactively protect yourself if they jump.

Fixed versus tracker is a risk preference call. A fix is insurance against volatility. A tracker can work if you have headroom and are comfortable with payment swings. Either way, stress test at least a couple of percentage points higher than today, and do not rely on bonuses or overtime to make it work.

The practical advice is boring: reduce other debt, build a cash buffer, keep your loan to value as low as possible, and get proper whole of market advice. Rate moves hurt most when people have no slack.