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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Hilary Osborne

UK mortgage rates rollercoaster is the price to pay for cheap, short-term deals

Typical period and more modern London houses with distant suburban terraces and apartment blocks
UK mortgage borrowers – abetted by their mortgage advisers – have a short-term mindset. Photograph: oversnap/Getty Images/iStockphoto

As mortgage lending rates surge to levels not seen since the banking crisis, some borrowers are wondering whether there is something to be said for the certainty of fixing the borrowing rate for the full term of the loan.

In 2007 two of the UK’s biggest lenders launched 25-year fixed-rate mortgages. They were responding to a call from the then chancellor, Alistair Darling, who suggested consumers would be better off if they did not have to find a new deal every two years, typically paying charges each time.

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