Attention Halifax Mortgage Customers….
March 7th, 2012 in Industry News, MortgagesAttention Halifax Mortgage Customers….
…the increase to their standard variable rate from 3.5% to 3.99%
Many of you will have seen in this weeks press that Halifax will shortly be increasing their standard variable rate from 3.5% to 3.99%. Why is this? I hear you ask, and what can I do?
I received an email from the Halifax saying that this change acknowledges that the cost of funding a mortgage in today’s market remains significantly higher than the longer term average, and that they will be writing out to customers in the next few weeks advising them of their intention to increase the Halifax Standard Variable Rate. They are currently in the process of calculating customers’ monthly payments and will start writing to all affected customers from 10th April to explain the changes and provide new monthly payment details.
This marks the first rise in its SVR for three years and will affect roughly 850,000 of its customers and thousands more in coming months as borrowers that are currently on other deals revert back to the default standard variable rate.
So, as I said at the beginning, what can you do? well perhaps this is a time to consider discussing your current situation, and to consider whether or not now is the time to look at other deals available to you either with other mortgage lenders, or indeed within the existing range of deals that the Halifax offer. For example, for less than 0.5% more than their new SVR, and without any fees, you could fix your rate for the next 2 years.
If you are a Halifax customer and want to talk to us about this, please do not hesitate to call and we will be able to advise you on your options.
