Should you fix it? You might be nuts not to….

Some of you with certain types of mortgage will undoubtedly have been feeling a little smug and a lot richer as the Bank of England has merrily slashed base rate to almost nothing.

Left: Having paid peanuts in mortgage repayments for ages, Woody didn’t like having to stump up some real cash when interest rates started to go up

The extremely fortunate few who took out tracker loans linked to base rate around two or three years ago are likely to be paying peanuts in mortgage repayments at present, or even nothing at all.

Meanwhile, some of you whose fixed rate deal came to an end over the last six to eight months and decided to remain on your lender's standard variable rate (SVR) might also have been laughing.

However, despite few signs from the Bank of England that the base rate will increase any time soon, now is not the time to get complacent.

The next move in the rate, when it does come, is almost certain to be up, meaning that repayments for those of you on tracker mortgages or on SVR will begin to rise too.

As a result, it could be the case that a fixed rate mortgage might well be an option now worth exploring.

Although the rates on fixed products are unlikely to be as low as those you're paying on your tracker at the moment, it might be in your best interest to bite the bullet and effectively pay more in the short term to make a gain in the long term.

Indeed, our own research suggests that the cost of fixed rate mortgage might already have reached the bottom and is now on the rise, so time could be of the essence.

Keeping hold of your tracker until the base rate starts rising could be the difference between you getting a decent fixed rate now and having to settle for one which is considerably higher in the future.

Also worth considering is that some trackers in the market offer the option to switch to a fixed rate at a future date, often without penalty.

These so called drop lock mortgages could prove invaluable right now, so it's worth checking the finer details of your policy to see if this something you can do.

Timing the switch perfectly for maximum effect is unlikely to be easy, but get it somewhere close to right and you're likely to reap the financial benefits in the future.

Tim Leonard, Senior Reporter, Moneyfacts Group