Recently some of the top mortgage lenders announced that they would be increasing their standard variable rate (SVR).  This came as a shock to many mortgage holders as they felt as long as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept their standard base interest rate steady they need not fear rising interest rates.  This was especially true for the many that are on their lender’s SVR not out of choice but because they cannot move away from it.

When homeowner’s current mortgage deal ends and they do not remortgage they convert to their lender’s SVR.  There are homeowners that could not remortgage because they did not have adequate equity to assist them into a new deal.  Without the ability to get a remortgage those homeowners that are stuck can do little but face the rising SVR levels.

Those that can remortgage but have not were confident that the low interest rate SVRs were there to stay for a while.  Now there is a rush to remortgage as the reality of higher interest rates takes hold.  Most of the lenders used May 1 as the date to raise their SVR levels. 

The good news in all of this is that lenders are quite aware that homeowners are looking to remortgage.  Some of them are choosing to be competitive and get the attention of homeowners looking for a good deal.  There are some lenders that are cutting fees on their cheapest rates, others are actually lowering their interest rate offerings and loan to value levels are rising upward a bit.  This will make remortgages more attractive and slightly easier to get which will be helpful to many.