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Fixed or variable rate: which one for your mortgage?
It is always the same question that every one of us is asking before signing a mortgage with his bank. To gain a more objective overview, let’s analyse them one by one with their respective advantages and disadvantages.
Fixed interest loan
As the name suggests, the fixed interest rate is fixed when you sign the loan contract and will remain unchanged during the entire term of your loan.
What are the advantages?
The amount of your monthly payments remains unchanged during the entire term of your loan. You know in advance the costs of your loan and you will never have any unpleasant surprise. Even if the market is subject to important fluctuations, the terms and conditions of your loan won’t change.
What are the disadvantages?
Only repayment in full is allowed but subject to a penalty payment. Take it into account if you want to resell your property before the end of the term of your loan.
The fixed rate is generally higher than the variable rate.
If the tendency is the decrease in rates when you have taken out your loan sooner, you will pay too much interest compared to the market conditions. Your rate loan will be maintained, even if it is disadvantageous for you.
Variable rate loan
The variable rate is adapted according to the evolution of financial market conditions. Your monthly payments therefore vary, up or down, according to the evolution of these rates.
What are the advantages?
You can make additional repayments or even repay it in full without incurring any penalty payment at all. You can therefore shorten the term or decrease the monthly payment of your credit depending on your financial means.
Often the variable rate is usually lower than for a fixed rate loan.
What are the disadvantages?
A rate increase can have a negative impact on your budget if you are not prepared for it.
Opting for a variable rate loan is a speculative choice. You can’t anticipate what you will monthly pay in the upcoming years and how long.
Finally, which one will you choose?
The answer is difficult and depends on several parameters specific to your personal situation.
To make it simple, the fixed rate is better for you if you borrow on a long term (more than 15 years) because it offers security. If, on the short term, a high increase or decrease in rates seems unlikely, nobody can anticipate their evolution on the long term (increase of your incomes, need for other financings, etc.)
On the other hand, variable rate is better for you if flexibility is for you the most important criterion because your financial and professional situation will evolve in the next years (increased revenue, need for other funding, etc.).
If you can’t choose between these two types of rate, there is a third option: the reviewable fixed rate.
01/2023
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