After months of mortgage mayhem some better news finally arrived this week with major lenders delivering a slew of hefty rate cuts. Halifax, Nationwide, and NatWest have all delivered big chops to their home loans, with analysts saying that we may be past the moment of peak panic in the mortgage market. That’s the silver lining to a very dark cloud though, as mortgage rates are far higher than they have been in recent years and almost all of those whose fixes come up for renewal will face paying much more. So if this is the end of Mortgage Mayhem Part 2 (the uncalled for sequel to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s original instalment), what happens next? Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert survey the wreckage of the past few months and look at what could come next for mortgage rates and homeowners? With higher rates here for the foreseeable future, they also discuss what this means for people’s finances and how mortgage hikes are likely to eat most people’s pay rises and then some. Simon explains why after such a long period of stagnant real wages, this is a major problem. In cheerier news, Premium Bonds have had another big bump up in the prize rate, so are they now a no-brainer? (For those listening to the podcast and looking for it, here is the link to our Premium Bonds winning stats piece Simon mentions: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-12161769/Premium-Bonds-likely-win-1m.html). Plus, what is the tale of good customer service that Simon has returned from holiday with? And finally — how did Helen go viral with an old carrier bag?
