The last meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee was quite telling in regard to the future increase of the base rate. After the Bank of England’s warning during the summer of last year about the likelihood of an increase in the base rate, the last MPC meeting of the year proved unsupportive of an increase during the year 2015. The vote remained the same during the meeting, 8-1. There are several reasons for the hesitation in all voting members to support an increase. One of the biggest is consistent wage growth across the country.

One of the voting members considers wage growth the most important factor in deciding to increase interest rates.

As part of a speech regarding wage growth, the MPC member said: “The most likely outcome is that wage growth will soon resume its recovery, but there are alternative states of the world in which it takes longer for that to happen. So I judge it prudent to tread carefully, and refrain from voting for an increase in bank rate until I am convinced that wage growth will be sustained at a level consistent with inflation returning to target.”

These comments prefaced the vote in the US to raise interest rates for the first time in a decade.

An increase in interest rates will affect anyone currently holding a variable rate mortgage loan. This speaks volumes about the importance of a family looking into a remortgage. A remortgage can not only make an immediate impact by shaving pounds off the cost of a monthly mortgage payment, but also secure protection for any rate rises in the future.