Ahead of the November meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) there were plenty of warnings that an interest rate increase would occur. Though other warnings have come and gone in years past without any rise in the standard base rate by the MPC, this warning seemed to have weight to it. Homeowners rushed to grab a cheap interest rate remortgage, while home buyers took more of a wait and see approach.

According to several reports remortgaging surged prior to the November MPC meeting which resulted in an eight year high while mortgages fell to a new low.

The MPC voted to increase the rate from 0.25% to 0.50% and while that may seem low in comparison to what norms were prior to the economic crisis, the increase was a doubling up of the rate. Since there hasn’t been an increase to the rate and only decreases in a decade, there are millions of homeowners that have never experienced an increase in their interest rate.

While it has been comfortable to sit on a lender’s standard variable rate (SVR) now with rising rates it is a risky venture. This pushed homeowners to seek what benefits were available for their financial future through a remortgage. As expected, fixed rates were in high demand, and securing a low rate for a long term was also an attractive choice.

Even though the rates have been increased, there are still many great deals available for homeowners that didn’t take the initiative in October. The rest of November and even the first half of December could see lenders still being competitive and seeking customers with attractive deals. Experts encourage home owners that could benefit from a remortgage both now and the years to come to take a good hard look at what is available now and take action if a remortgage is the right choice for their needs.