With many people enjoying their summer holidays, with children being off school and perhaps holidaying whether that be abroad or a staycation, it is a very busy (and expensive) time for lots of families. Finances are often stretched throughout the holidays and you may overlook things at this time, so once the kids are back to school is it time to refresh your finances?
It is much more common than it used to be for people to look at switching their utilities, broadband, mobile phone contracts etc. and this is a great way to start as you could save money by doing this. Also, anything that you have that you may pay for annually, such as car insurance, you should always shop around for this as you can often obtain cheaper quotations through comparison sites. However generally the biggest outgoing that most people have is their mortgage. So how can you save money on your mortgage? Many people in the UK are on their lenders’ Standard Variable Rate and have not looked to change this is a long time. If this is the case for you, you are likely paying much more than you need to.
You have various options but the two most obvious are that you could either remortgage to another lender and obtain perhaps a fixed rate which will likely be much lower than the Standard Variable Rate you are currently paying. The second option is to rate switch with your current lender, you could potentially rate switch to a fixed rate with your current lender and again this will likely be a much lower interest rate, resulting in a lower monthly payment than what you pay at present.
Either way it is worthwhile speaking with an Independent Financial Adviser to discuss your options.
Jenny Ennis Cert CII (MP)
19th August 2019