Moving from Tracker to Fixed

30 years left on a tracker seems like a long time!

But I agree with the post above...hang on to the tracker as at that rate, balance and term it will most likely be considerably cheaper.

How long was the mortgage in the first place? 40 years?

Mortgage holder would (imo) be better off holding the difference between 10yr fixed repayment and current repayment in a separate bank account (as if already paying that rate). Then when rates rise again, use that fund to help offset rising rates so it doesn't hit all at once.

If I had a tracker at that rate I would be very reluctant to swap it for a variable or fixed rate (unless the bank were to give a similar good 30 year fixed rate).

Also Op- in relation to finance, it's a very broad industry.....just tell relations mortgages & interest rates are not your field of expertise.

ECB+1.25%, so that'd be 3.5% now right?

THE ECB rate was 1.25% until Nov 2. It usually takes the banks a week or two before passing it on. With a margin of 1.25% on top of that, the total is 2.5% (as at Nov 8th)

As above, it will move to 3.25% in the coming days (if it hasn't already since the letter was issued).

While a tracker is considered "good", a margin of 1.25% is not. Back when trackers were popular, you were typically seeing margins of 0.5% to 1.00%. It's not so much about the ECB rate, but the cost of funding and the associated margins with SVR and Fixed rates etc. These were particularly high during and in the aftermath of the credit crunch (and, thus, a huge difference between trackers and SVR/Fixed). But are much lower now so are comparable.

Do not do anything.

as its rented, the minute you change rates you will be flagged as a buy to let. then after the fixed rate period the rate will be about 2% higher than standard rates and stay there til the end.

The balance is not huge, so rate changes will not be gigantic extra payment - the 0.75% will add about 50e

Inflation looks to be about to start cooling. The UK and US expect inflation to fall very quickly next year and markets are reckoning rates will not go too much higher and then fall back It is generally accepted by the market that the long term ecb target is 1.5%

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GIVE UP A TRACKER IF YOU ARE WITH PEPPER.

Pepper charge WHOPPING interest rates to those not on tracker. I believe it has gone to 5.5%.

ECB is probably going to hike by 0.5% in December (the expectation of 0.75% is gone)

They are then expected to take break.

Inflation is now starting to cool and with potential energy price drops in Spring, inflation could drop considerably and that will ease pressure on ecb to hike any further. Once inflation is under control, ECB will probably move back towards 1.5%

Also, if you do decide to restructure the mortgage, be advised it could take a while for the bank to engage on this. Don't leave it up to the point that you're about to miss a payment otherwise you'll be hit with a bunch of penalties

Jeez, talk about debt for life. I'd forgotten how front loaded the interest was, even on a small rate

And people call me a fool for making overpayments and trying to be mortgage free by age 40...

In many cases it is the correct decision to move from tracker to fixed as some banks had excellent fixed rate deals that brought you close to the end of your mortgage.

But pepper charge very premium rates, so if with pepper, it's not worth even looking into.

ECB might go as high as 3%, but will probably fall back towards 1.5% in 2024 assuming no catastrophe

ECB have already said there will be further 0.5% rises for a "significant" time.

My own belief is that there won't be much more - probably 1% more. ECB gives their "in their moment" outlook. They are not going to guess what will happen, whereas I and others will

Business electricity and gas have started to come down slightly, but will drop more aggressively from Feb. Domestic energy prices will start dropping from April.

Fertiliser dropped considerably in the last few months, animal foodstuffs are down considerably recently too. Butter and timber have also dropped in the last couple of months (Kerrygold will be back under €4 soon and head towards €3.50) and an area that I buy, containerboard, (I buy a lot of boxes) has dropped dramatically since October and cardboard box prices from smurfits have dropped almost 30% from their highs.

I think a lot of this will feed into consumer prices in March / April and combined with the high inflation months of last year (March + April) no longer in the calculation, inflation will have a fairly substantial drop.

When the ECB sees this actually happen, they will change their "in the moment" forecast.

If Russia / Ukraine start talking peace, that will be a bonus.

I have a ECB + 0.7% tracker mortgage that Pepper bought from NIB, with about 160k balance. My monthly payments have gone up from approximately 850 to 1050 in last few months with the ECB rate hikes. I am going to stick with tracker though, but considering paying off 30-40k in the new year from savings.

Is it better to pay into mortgage, or to hold onto savings? I always thought cash is king going into a recession - especially looking back to 2008 and how house prices crashed and rebounded since - there were bargains to be had if someone had some spare cash to spend, especially buying properties. However this time around house prices are not exactly threatening to crash - and inflation is in high gear - so is cash more of a liability in the upcoming recession?

There will be a minimum of two more 0.5% increases, maybe three.

This has been signalled over and over by the ECB.

"Christine Lagarde to state at the ECB press conference that market interest rates are underestimating how far the ECB will increase interest rates, and for how long, to help bring inflation back to the 2% target. Combine that with statements from two other senior ECB staff, and I feel we will see 4% by June 2023."