Is a 10-year fixed-rate mortgage a good idea & should you get one?

10-year fixed-rate mortgages have been reducing significantly in cost, and for the first time in the UK, it’s now possible to get a pretty competitive rate fixed for ten years. But the big question is should you get one?

Question 1: Is a fixed rate even appropriate for you?

Forget ten years. Should you even have a fixed-rate mortgage?

Lots of people get caught out by significant early repayment penalties due to not properly considering the question of their long-term plans before buying.

Will you be moving home, repaying large balances early, hoping to raise significant additional finance from the property or could you be eligible for better deals in the short term if your circumstances improve?

Before considering a fixed-rate mortgage, look at our guide to fixed-rate products and see how they work versus other rates. Pay real consideration to whether the points above could leave you paying redemption penalties of many thousands of pounds.

You should speak to an independent mortgage broker like us as well.

Question 2: Will fixing for ten years be competitive long term?

If you had a crystal ball, you could answer this question, but no one can see into the future.

When a lender prices a product, it’s either based on the cost of borrowing that money from another bank or investor and turning it into mortgages, or on the expected interest rate they will pay to their depositors over that time.

So the simple fact is that a fixed-rate mortgage will be priced based on the expectations of what will happen to interest rates over the term & the lender will expect to profit.

That means the current glut of competitive long-term fixed deals indicates that the banks expect a prolonged period of relatively low-interest rates in the UK well into the future.

So like odds given by bookies, most banks will not expect average interest rates over the fixed period to be higher than the rate they are offering you. So you are in effect betting against the bank, but they have been known to be quite spectacularly wrong in the past.

The smaller your mortgage though, and the shorter the remaining term (for someone on a repayment or capital and interest mortgage) the less differences in rate will impact the long-term cost.

Because of this, for each loan, there will come a point as the remaining term decreases when small differences in rates are outweighed by the repeated fees involved in refinancing a mortgage, and changing products regularly offers poor value for money.

This is very case-specific, but once your mortgage reaches that point the potential downsides of long-term fixes may become insignificant.

Question 3: So, who should take a 10-year fixed-rate mortgage?

If you are concerned about increases in costs, have no circumstances that might better suit variable rates, and are sure that the early repayment penalties won’t be likely to cause an issue, then you need to decide whether you feel it’s worthwhile gambling long term and risk paying more than you might need to, or whether to take a short-term product in the hope that you can secure another competitive rate again in a few years.

This decision is mainly going to come down to the margin between short-term fixed rates and long term ones. Also, the probability that changes to your circumstances make better deals available to you in the short term (such as better income making more competitive lenders available, or works to a property decreasing your loan to value), and whether you feel the additional cost is good value for the extra security.

A mortgage advisor such as ourselves will discuss your circumstances with you and give guidance on whether a fixed product is more appropriate for you. If a fixed rate is the best option for you, but it comes down purely to a decision between long and short-term deals then this is very much a decision best made by the customer, but at least we can present you with the best options available over the different periods so you can make a more informed decision between them.

If you’d like to know what the best deals available to you both in the short and long term could be then complete our enquiry form and an advisor will contact you, to discuss your options and provide you with advice.

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Q&A; What is a Higher Lending Charge?

Question; What is a higher lending charge, and how does it affect me as a borrower?

A higher lending charge is a fee lenders may apply to loans over a certain percentage of a property’s value (or loan-to-value).

For example, a lender may impose an extra charge on borrowers who borrow more than 80% of a property’s value, or perhaps more than 85% etc.

Often the fee will be a percentage of the amount of borrowing that exceeds this threshold.

A typical example would be a 5% charge on all lending over 80% of the property value. In this case, if your home was worth £100,000 and you borrowed £90,000, you would pay 5% of the £10,000 over and above the 80% limit, giving a higher lending charge of £500.

It’s important to consider how the fee is calculated, for each lender. It could be based on the whole loan, meaning the fee could be considerably higher than the example above.

Another important consideration is what the lender does with the fee.

Some lenders charge a fee to increase their profit margin on these loans to cover potential losses if they have to sell properties below market value at auction.

If the lender uses the fee to buy insurance, though, often referred to as a ‘Mortgage Indemnity Guarantee’ (which insures the lender against such losses), in the event of you handing back the keys and the property selling at a loss, the insurer would then have the right to pursue you for their losses under the ‘right of subrogation’.

The FSA forced lenders to stop referring to these charges as ‘Mortgage Indemnity Guarantee’ fees because it was worried that this gave the impression that such insurance policies would benefit the borrower, as well as the lender; so be aware that if you pay this fee or have done in the past, it will not protect you from the lender or insurer pursuing you for any outstanding balances should the property have to be sold at undervalue after repossession.

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