Your fixed rate is ending: what to do when the base rate will not budge
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Most people on a fixed rate have a date sitting somewhere in a drawer. For two or three years it feels comfortably far off, and then one morning it is close enough that you find yourself thinking about it in the car. That is usually the point at which the question arrives: do I sort this out now, or do I wait and see whether rates come down first?
It is a fair question, and at the moment it is a harder one than it looks. The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75 per cent at the end of July 2026, having judged that rates are at about the right level for now. Inflation has actually fallen further than the Bank expected, to 2.6 per cent, but the Bank has also said it expects inflation to rise again later this year because energy prices are high and volatile. The next decision is due in the middle of September. In other words, nobody sensible is promising you a cut, and nobody sensible is ruling one out.
What happens if you simply let the date pass
This is the part worth being clear about, because it is the one outcome nobody actually chooses. When a fixed rate ends and nothing has been arranged, your lender moves you onto its standard variable rate. An SVR is set by the lender rather than tracking anything, it tends to sit well above the fixed and tracker deals on offer, and it can be changed at short notice. There is no early repayment charge to leave it, which is the one mercy, but there is also nothing keeping your payments where they were. Drifting onto an SVR by accident is the expensive way to buy yourself time.
The six month window, and what it is really for
MoneyHelper suggests setting a reminder and starting to look at least six months before your current deal reverts to the lender's SVR, and that is roughly the window most lenders work to as well. You can usually secure a new deal in advance, so it starts the day the old one finishes. That might mean a product transfer, staying with your existing lender and moving to one of its new rates, or a full remortgage to another lender, which is treated as a new application with income, credit and affordability all looked at again.
Locking something in early is not a free option, though. If rates fall between now and your start date, you may have committed to something less attractive than what is on the shelf by then. Some lenders will let you switch to a better rate before completion and some will not, so ask that at the outset rather than discover it later.
Take Marcus, aged forty-one, a fictional client whose situation is a common one. He has around £180,000 left on a five year fix that ends next spring, and his instinct was to hold off until the new year in the hope of better news from the Bank. What shifted his thinking was not a forecast. It was working out what his monthly payment would look like on his lender's variable rate if the paperwork slipped by even a few weeks, and realising he was not willing to gamble on the timing. He is still weighing up whether a shorter fix, a longer one or a tracker fits him best, but he is doing it with time to spare instead of under pressure.
Fixed, tracker, or a bit of both
A fix buys certainty, you know the payment, but you give up any benefit if rates fall, and you usually accept an early repayment charge if you want out before the end. A tracker moves with the Bank of England Base Rate (or similar benchmark), so a cut reaches you fairly quickly, but so does an increase, and the Bank of England's own comments about energy prices are a reminder that the path is not one way.
Whichever direction appeals, a handful of details tend to decide whether a switch is worth making:
• Any early repayment charge on your current deal, and when it steps down or falls away
• Arrangement, valuation and legal fees, and whether they are payable upfront or added to the loan
• Your loan to value band, since a lower balance or a higher house price can open up better pricing
• Whether you might move house during the new deal, and how portable it is if you do
None of that is exotic, but it is fiddly, and it is exactly what gets skipped when the deadline is a fortnight away. Your mortgage is usually your largest monthly commitment, so it deserves more thought than the most convenient option your lender puts in front of you.
In summary
With Bank Rate held and the Bank of England warning that inflation may pick up again, waiting for a cut is a bet rather than a plan. The one avoidable outcome is sliding onto a standard variable rate because the date arrived before a decision did. Giving yourself six months means you can weigh a fix against a tracker, count the fees and charges properly, and choose on the numbers rather than the calendar.
If your fixed rate ends in the next year and you are unsure whether to act now or hold on, we would be glad to talk it through with you. Get in touch with the ACJ team and we can look at your current deal, what your existing lender will offer you and what else is available, so the decision is yours to make with the full picture in front of you.