Following the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the Bank of England announced an increase in the bank rate from 4.25% to 4.5%. If a customer's mortgage is affected by this change, they will be notified and receive a letter confirming their monthly payment before it is due. The current Standard Variable Rate (SVR) for Halifax mortgages is 7.99%, which is slightly higher than the industry average and 3.49% above the BOE base rate. Their two-year follow-up rates for homebuyers range from 4.09 to 4.59 percent, compared to the fixed rates of 5.12 to 5.82 percent for the same term.
The five-year fixed rate, with 65 percent Loan-to-Value (LTV), has decreased from 5.24 percent to five percent. This includes a commission of 495 pounds, a refund of 250 pounds and a free standard valuation. The lender Accord Mortgages, which operates only through intermediaries, has reduced purchase-to-rent rates by up to 0.24 percent to support “struggling homeowners” who are having difficulty maintaining affordability and rental returns. When the bank rate changes, we will recalculate the monthly payment for any part of the mortgage that is being charged interest at a variable rate and add it to the monthly payments on any part of the fixed-rate mortgage to obtain a completely new monthly payment.
If your mortgage has a fixed interest rate, the interest rate on the fixed part will not change. The fixed-rate mortgages currently arranged do not rise with the Bank of England's base rate; however, the increase in BOE rates does put pressure on future fixed rates to rise. To be eligible for a product that you buy for the first time in Halifax, at least one applicant must not have previously held a mortgage or purchased property in the United Kingdom or abroad. Halifax has relaunched mortgage monitoring rates for the first time in four years, amid a broader market shift from fixed to variable interest rates.
That's precisely why lenders publish an Annual Percentage Rate (APR), since it takes into account the generally discounted initial rate, as well as the SVR over the term of the mortgage loan. However, it's possible that the terms of your particular mortgage agreement with Halifax can be transferred to your new mortgage or, in fact, you can “transfer” your current mortgage. With so many products on the market, it can be easy to choose the lowest overall rate; however, once you've added processing fees and any additional fees, the rates offered by all companies, including Halifax, can increase the real cost of the mortgage. We will change the interest rate on mortgages with monitoring rates effective from 1 of the month following any Bank of England exchange rate changes.
For mortgages requested before this date, Halifax's Standard Variable Rate (SVR) will apply. For example, if there is an increase in BOE rates, then you could be paying more in interest on your mortgage; however, if there is a decrease in BOE rates then you could be paying less.