I knew the value of them too back in the early 2000s. As far as I was concerned, banks were never going to give you a interest rate below the ECB, or else only for a really short term fix, rolling on to a higher than average SVR which they could change up or down as they so decided. The tracker guaranteed you were not far off the ECB for the life of the mortgage at all times so seemed a good choice, and meant you didn't have to worry too much about having to switch if your bank was not reducing variables or not offering new deals to existing customers. To my knowledge all trackers were for the life of the mortgage when they started. That was the beauty of them. When banks started competing then on trying to have the best tracker rates they went down to very low % above ECB, which were probably unsustainable in the long term (? ) so they were even better value. But then they started to introduce gimmicky discounted trackers and changing terms and conditions without really explaining to customers. Seems it was just too difficult for bankers to offer a fair product without messing with it, just like all the other products like short term fixes, cash back offers. I definitely have no trust in them anymore.