9 Crown Row, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 0TH
Helen Thring
Marketing & Operations Manager
Helen is Nick’s sister and she successfully set up and established our Lettings Department back in 2013. Having spent much of her career prior to DY working in marketing, Helen now heads up our Marketing & Operations department. This suits her organisational skills, creativity and keen eye for detail perfectly! She loves taking long walks with her Labrador Finn and when time permits, travelling and visiting new places around the globe.
Top of my bucket list is…
To visit more new countries and ultimately, travel round Europe in a camper van.
My guilty pleasure…
Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream – I’ve got a very sweet tooth, for my sins.
When I was younger, I wanted to be…
Less shy.
If I were a superhero, my superpower would be…
To find a cure for cancer and dementia. Here’s hoping.
On Sunday morning, you can usually find me…
Up bright and early for a dog walk!
You might be surprised to know that…
One of my earliest qualifications as a teenager was as a Clarks trained shoe fitter. Ohh, all those back to school shoes!
2 Feb 2023
Although the Bank of England have increased the base rate today to 4%, mortgage rates are expected to decrease further this year. The 10th consecutive increase since December 2021 brings more confusion to mortgage borrowers as Swap rates (the rates at which a lot of mortgage funding is based) continue to fall.
What does it mean for borrowers?
Well if you have a Tracker Rate – your mortgage will increase by 0.5%. However, if you have a Fixed Rate, your payments will not be affected until your fixed period has finished. This is the point at which borrowers MUST NOT DO NOTHING! Confused borrowers are often deciding to wait it out until rates fall and this leaves them on their lenders “standard variable rate” or SVR.
The SVR is your lenders sweet spot, the point at which they make the most money and unlike a tracker rate – which is set by the Bank of England, mortgage lenders can set their own!
Even before the base rate increase, the UKs top 5 mortgage lenders, Barclays, NatWest, Santander, Nationwide and HSBC were charging between 6.48 and 6.99% to clients on their SVR and this is likely to increase following todays announcement.
So what to do?
Borrowers coming off fixed rates who believe more competitive rates are around the corner have two alternative options:
1. Opt for a Tracker Rate with no Early Repayment Charges (ERCs) – these products are priced around 2% cheaper than the SVRs and you can then switch to a fixed rate when the rates start to fall.
2. Sign up for the best fixed rate you can today. Our friends at Mortgage Required search the market weekly to check if there is a cheaper alternative and if there is, they transfer you onto the new reduced rate. Every week until your mortgage completes!
Either way, with all the confusion, borrowers should speak to an Independent Mortgage Adviser.
Please contact us on the numbers below and we can put you in touch for a free, no obligation chat.
Ascot | 01344 874300
Bracknell | 01344 860121
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. There will be no fee for Mortgage Advice. There may be a fee for arranging a mortgage. The precise amount will depend upon your circumstances, but we estimate it to be £399. Mortgage Advice is given via an introduction to Mortgage Required Ltd, Finance House, 5 Bath Road, Maidenhead, SL6 4AQ is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority reference 573718. The Financial Ombudsman Service is an agency for arbitrating on unresolved complaints between regulated firms and their clients. More detail can be found on their website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
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