Attention on MPC Meeting Thursday as Borrowers Wait for Zero Interest Rate News
All eyes will be on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee Meeting (MPC) that will happen this Thursday, 18 June. The tone of the meeting could reveal what actions are being considered to assist the UK economy through the first global pandemic in over 100 years. It is not expected that there will be any change to the standard base interest rate this meeting, but it could signal if the current rate of 0.1%, a historic low, might be slashed in August.
There could be more quantitative easing, or QE, injected into the economy to assist, but as stated, more attention will be directed to whether any members might be considering the unprecedented jump to zero interest rate levels. Most experts believe that will not happen, or if it does, such a move will not happen during the summer.
Since there is not a scheduled MPC meeting in July, there will be a longer span of time between the meeting Thursday and the next gathering as compared to the last meetings. This will give the MPC’s previous actions time to make an impact and reveal if further attention to the base rate will be required to save the economy and the consumers.
Some homeowners may hear the news about zero interest rates and consider waiting on a remortgage that could as they are offered now save them money in hopes of a possible zero interest rate remortgage. However, the MPC action to go into the zero range for the standard base interest rate will not transfer over to homeowners discovering remortgages that are literally free to borrow.
In fact, some experts believe the move to a zero interest rate would cause lenders to tighten lending as they would need to do so to limit lending and stay profitable in their business. It might also cause some to pull back the best remortgage deals on the market today.
There are currently many attractive deals to be found from remortgage lenders and possibly even more with exclusive deals offered through remortgage brokers. No one should pay more than necessary when family household budgets are already constrained due to the pandemic. Therefore, if savings are to be found with a remortgage found today, taking action now rather than later might keep a homeowner from missing out on the best deal even without the MPC approving a zero level standard base interest rate in the months ahead.