Nearly a third of mortgage holders are staying on their lender’s standard variable rates, research suggests.
Meanwhile, almost 46% of those who have paid off their mortgage and own their house outright say their last mortgage was on an SVR.
This could see many homeowners paying over the odds for their mortgage.
Although there may be certain circumstances where sticking with a lender’s SVR makes financial sense, in most cases it’s wise to compare mortgages from across the market and move to a more cost-effective and suitable deal.
In fact, remortgaging your property - whether you choose a different mortgage with your current lender or switch to a different lender entirely - can save you thousands of pounds over the course of your mortgage term.
Not only can remortgaging allow you to move onto a more preferable interest rate, it can also give you other levels of flexibility. For example, you may be able to pay your loan off much sooner and reduce the likelihood that you’ll have to budget for repayments when you retire.
By paying off as much of your property’s capital as you can, you’ll become debt free earlier and reduce future living costs.
This news comes just a few months after another poll revealed that 81% of people in Britain believe their mortgage provider quietly hopes they’ll slip onto their Standard Variable Rate (SVR) at the end of their fixed rate period.
Half of those polled (47%) believed their mortgage provider wouldn’t care if they switched to another lender.
Ross Boyd, founder of Dashly, said: “That the vast majority of borrowers believe their mortgage providers quietly hope they’ll slip onto their SVR should be a serious wake-up call to UK lenders.
“It suggests the relationship they have with borrowers is transactional at best and dysfunctional at worst. What’s crystal clear is that very few people believe the lenders have their best interests at heart.”
