Martin Lewis urges homeowners to act now to knock £1,000 off bills

13 May 2022, 08:54 | Updated: 20 September 2022, 15:46

The Money Saving expert has told homeowners they should check their mortgage after the Bank of England put interest rates up.

With the cost of living continuing to rise, Martin Lewis has been advising the nation on how they can save money.

And his latest tip is to homeowners who have been urged to check their mortgage following an increase in interest rates.

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The Money Saving Expert warned that those on variable tariffs have around a month to look for other potential deals before their bills go up again.

Those who are on fixed deals which are expiring soon have also got around a month to look for a new tariff.

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In a recent newsletter, he explained: “The cheapest rates have disappeared - if your fix ends soon-ish or you're on the standard rate, check now if you can save.

“The 0.25% point base rate increase will likely take a month to feed through to most standard variable rates (SVRs), though some tracker rates have already gone up. It will add roughly £12/mth per £100,000 of mortgage.”

He went on to say that back in October there were over 50 fixed-rate mortgage deals below 1%, now the lowest fix is 2.1%.

So that means that for someone with a £200,000, 30-yr mortgage, the cheapest rate today would cost £120 a month more than October.

He continued: "With further rate rises predicted, and many lenders' default standard variable rates heading to 5%, checking if you can save by changing deal is a must-do.

"You may not save as much compared to a few months back, but compared to doing nowt, switching could still help you save £1,000s."

This comes after Martin revealed how you could also reduce your broadband and mobile bill by up to £200 a year.

He said the best thing to do is use a comparison site to help you check all the deals available in one place.

Sites such as MSE, Uswitch, Broadbandchoices and ComparetheMarket are all good places to start.

Martin also says you could try bringing the price down with your current provider to match a cheaper deal you’ve spotted.