In the UK

[mrsukyankee]

IMF urges UK government to reconsider tax-cutting plans

The rebuke comes amid a growing international backlash over the chancellor’s £45bn of unfunded tax cuts, with the intervention from the IMF swiftly followed by sharp criticism from the credit rating agency Moody’s late on Tuesday. The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, also said the US was “monitoring developments very closely” in the UK.

Kwarteng cut the top rate of tax from 45p to 40p and promised a 1p cut in the basic rate of tax from April next year. He also said he would retain corporation tax at 19% – scrapping a planned rise to 25% – and reverse a recent rise in national insurance payments, saying that the near £50bn cost would be added to the UK’s debt pile.

The move sent sterling and government bonds into freefall over the weekend and on Monday, despite Kwarteng arguing that the budget was aimed at growing the economy.



Homeowners warned of ‘significant’ rise in UK interest rates

Britain’s homeowners have been warned to brace themselves for a “significant” increase in interest rates from the Bank of England in response to Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting mini-budget last week.



Huw Pill, Threadneedle Street’s chief economist, added to the concerns of millions of mortgage payers who have already seen hundreds of home loan products pulled by lenders in anticipation of a big increase in the cost of borrowing.



With the financial markets signalling that the Bank might need to raise interest rates as high as 6%, Santander, HSBC and Nationwide were among the big lenders indicating that the end of cheap mortgages was coming to an end.


Strikes:

Royal Mail staff announce further 19 strikes over next two months
Strike action to wipe out most train services across Great Britain on 1 October
England’s FE (further education) colleges face ‘unprecedented’ wave of strikes
NHS is ‘over the precipice’, warns nurses’ leader as strike vote looms

[audette]

Do mortgages in the UK work like the ones in Canada, where your loan is based on x number of years (ie: 30), but the loan itself is only locked at five years, or some other defined time frame that is generally less than the x number of years?

I am not explaining that well, but basically, do folks have to re-negotiate their mortgages (at the current rates) Avery 5-ish years? That could really mess up some things for folks.

[stever]

They’re failing so spectacularly that it seems intentional. Putting my tinfoil hat on, I’m inclined to think that the goal is to crash the economy, say they can’t afford services, then allow services to be bought up because the pound is in the shitter.

[seeyalater52]

Sept 28, 2022 13:18:20 GMT -5 stever said:

They’re feeling so spectacularly that it seems intentional. Putting my tinfoil hat on, I’m inclined to think that the goal is to crash the economy, say they can’t afford services, then allow services to be brought up because the pound is in the shitter.

Ding ding ding.

Simultaneously they’re also trying to collapse the NHS so they can say it “isn’t working.” The whole thing is coordinated.

[mrsukyankee]

Sept 28, 2022 8:13:49 GMT -5 audette said:

Do mortgages in the UK work like the ones in Canada, where your loan is based on x number of years (ie: 30), but the loan itself is only locked at five years, or some other defined time frame that is generally less than the x number of years?

I am not explaining that well, but basically, do folks have to re-negotiate their mortgages (at the current rates) Avery 5-ish years? That could really mess up some things for folks.

Yes,  except for many,  it's every 2 years. And some are on 5 years but at a variable rate.  This is going to be bad. 

[audette]

Sept 28, 2022 14:23:06 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Sept 28, 2022 8:13:49 GMT -5 audette said:

Do mortgages in the UK work like the ones in Canada, where your loan is based on x number of years (ie: 30), but the loan itself is only locked at five years, or some other defined time frame that is generally less than the x number of years?

I am not explaining that well, but basically, do folks have to re-negotiate their mortgages (at the current rates) Avery 5-ish years? That could really mess up some things for folks.

Yes,  except for many,  it's every 2 years. And some are on 5 years but at a variable rate.  This is going to be bad. 

Oh, wow...


Yeah, I remember explaining to Canadian buddies that we could lock in our mortgage for the whole length of it, and I suspect it may drive differing individual risk analyses when buying...