Consumers are getting a grip on their financial future.  Homeowners are seeking a remortgage to insure their money goes not toward interest payments but toward principal.  Securing a monthly mortgage payment that will not increase once interest rates do has been their main focus as fixed rate remortgages have been the most sought after.  The current Bank’s interest rate is, after all, at a historically low level of 0.5 per cent and with that level it makes sense to seek out a remortgage.

Of course, a lot of homeowners sought out a remortgage more so when there were high warnings from economists that a rate change was around the bend.  Now that warnings have eased to a possible rate increase months away in August, remortgaging may slack.  Then lenders will become more competitive and bring out new remortgage products and remortgage deals to lure in the hesitant homeowner.  So, the inability to remortgage previously or the hesitation to remortgage earlier will possibly be of benefit with great deals on the table for homeowners.

House prices are now an concern for homeowners and that too is making them take a good long look with a “financial eye”.  Paying down debt to maintain their equity level has been of issue, especially for those that have not been paying on their mortgage for long.  Negative equity is a difficult thing to pull out of and keeping value above debt level is important.  There too, consumers are getting a grip on their financial future by doing what it takes to secure a financially healthy future.  

Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said, “Consumer desire to get a tighter grip on their finances is a reflection of current very low and falling consumer confidence and is the consequence of an uncertain and somewhat worrying longer-term outlook for the economy and jobs as the major fiscal squeeze increasingly kicks in," he said. "Meanwhile, there remains limited availability of unsecured credit from banks, despite reportedly increasing slightly in the first quarter."