Key Post Eoin McGee: "People on trackers should not fix under any circumstances"

[PebbleBeach2020]

I read an article and a podcast by Eoin McGee, Prosperous and How to be good with Money on RTE. He said and was fairly adamant about it, that under no circumstances whatsoever should someone with a tracker mortgage give it up and take a fixed rate on offer.

 

[Paul F]

I read an article and a podcast by Eoin McGee, Prosperous and How to be good with Money on RTE. He said and was fairly adamant about it, that under no circumstances whatsoever should someone with a tracker mortgage give it up and take a fixed rate on offer.

Link to the article and/or podcast? I'd like to hear his reasoning.

Edit: he said it on Claire Byrne's show on 16 May (jump to the 11:30 mark) – but he didn't go into any detail:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22097330/

And here (you'll need an Instagram account):

Instagram

www.instagram.com

The point/claim he makes is that, in a normally functioning market, fixed rates are more expensive than variable rates (over the long term) – and therefore giving up your tracker for a fixed rate probably means that you will pay more (over the long term).

But he doesn't address the fact that some trackers have much higher rates than others (your tracker "margin").

I don't think that his one-size-fits-all "Don't give up your tracker" advice is correct in all cases.


Edit: the following thread contains much more comprehensive and nuanced guidance than Eoin McGee's blanket statement:

Key Post - Should borrowers with trackers consider fixing? (General guidelines)

It seems increasingly likely that we are going to see a series of rate hikes by the ECB in the near future. According to Philip Lane, ECB chief economist - "I think it’s clear that at some point we’re going to be moving rates, not just once, but over time, in a sequence." If the ECB raise the...

www.askaboutmoney.com