Mortgage borrowers ‘looking to avoid uncertainty’

Mortgage borrowers around the country are increasingly looking to avoid the uncertainty of having a variable rate arrangement with their lender, according to recent research.

Figures from Abbey show that almost eight in ten British consumers would opt for a fixed-rate deal, in the interest of stabalising their debt management circumstances, if the were obliged to remortgage tomorrow.

The cost of borrowing has risen five times since August of last year and Abbey suggests that uncertainty in the mortgage market means fixed-rate deals are becoming an ever more popular option in the UK.

Sue Hayes, Abbey’s director of mortgages, commented: “Fixed-rates have always been popular in times of uncertainty when people look to gather as much security as they can from their mortgage.”

Earlier this year, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service predicted that homeowners across Britain would face debt management difficulties throughout 2007.