In the last quarter of the year, particularly in the month of October, a large number of homeowners were due to have their mortgage term end. For those homeowners, the choices were to either remortgage or allow their lender to move their mortgage loan to the lender’s standard variable rate (SVR). While SVR interest rates are considered risky for the homeowner that doesn’t have a budget that can easily fluctuate for interest rate changes, in years past the SVR was low enough to make it somewhat attractive and an easy option for homeowners. However, all that has changed.

Now SVRs have increased significantly in comparison to the interest rate homeowners would have been used to paying had they mortgaged two years ago, which was the most popular mortgage at the time. In fact, for a homeowner that did mortgage two years ago, a SVR could be double or more the interest rate they were used to paying.

There is no reason to pay more than necessary when a remortgage could offer a lower interest rate than what is found in most SVRs and when there is perhaps a substantial savings to be found.

Current remortgages are attached to low interest rates and for some lenders their lowest interest rate remortgage is a historic low. Even fixed rate long term remortgages have lower interest rates than some SVRs.

While lenders are competitive for the attention of those homeowners that have had or are going to have their mortgage term end, homeowners have the advantage. Competition is driving low interest rates and creative remortgage products.

That might not be the case for long. Therefore, homeowners are encouraged to shop around for a remortgage and if the opportunities and benefits look great, which for most it will, then it is probably best to take action sooner rather than later or miss out on the best remortgage deals available now.