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1 4 U Financial Solutions Ltd

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1 4 U Financial Solutions Ltd

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Financial advice for individuals and business clients. You can trust us to provide you with a totally professional but friendly service.

You can trust us to provide you with a totally confidential and professional service, in a friendly and relaxed environment. Life is a journey and we believe at 1 4 U Financial Solutions that your finances are an integral part of that journey. We understand that arranging a Mortgage or putting a Life Insurance plan in place, can be a daunting prospect so we are here to work with you every step of the way. We are here to make your Financial Journey a relaxed and stress free experience so why not give us a call and arrange your no obligation appointment? YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. We normally charge a fee for Mortgage advice. The amount of the fee will depend upon your needs and circumstances. This will be discussed and agreed with you at the earliest opportunity.

1 4 U Financial Solutions Ltd is an Appointed Representative of PRIMIS Mortgage Network Ltd, a trading name of First Complete Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

1 4 U Financial Solutions Ltd is a company registered in Northern Ireland - Company Registration No: NI606059

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28/10/2026

KEY BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENTS

For the general public there may not have seemed like there was a lot going on to really interest us, but there have been a number of small announcements that are relevant.

Minimum/Living Wage and State Pension increases of 3.9% were announced from April. The tax threshold will also increase for pensioners to £13,319, so that they don’t pay Income Tax on State Pension. Any income above this will be taxed at normal rates.

The VAT cut on electricity and Fuel Duty have both been extended to July, having been due to end in April.

Lower-income households in England will receive £100 payment, with Scotland and Wales saying they will also make the payment. Apparently, Stormont has been told that they will not receive this grant money if they don’t agree a budget!

Some good news for those in receipt of Carer’s Allowance, which stopped completely if a carer earned above a certain level from earned income. It has been announced today, that this will instead reduce gradually as earned income increases. The bad news is that this is not expected to happen until 2030.

A cut to business rates for 70,000 businesses in retail, hospitality, and leisure has been announced.

A further Income Tax increase for Landlords has been announced from April. This was already due to increase from 20% to 22% but will now increase to 24%.

Savings that are not held in ISAs have also been targeted for a further increase in Income Tax, also to 24% for basic-rate taxpayers or 44% for higher-rate taxpayers.

A new First-Time-Buyer ISA will replace the Lifetime ISA.

The Chancellor also announced a new ‘Your First Home Scheme’ for first-time buyers, who "don't have the bank of mum and dad behind them". From next spring, the scheme - widely trailed - is an equity loan scheme he is funding with £4.7bn of government-backed lending. It is expected to be open to first-time buyers with a deposit of 2.5% and provide buyers with an equity loan worth 20% of the value of the new-build property. Previously, similar schemes have not made their way to Northern Ireland, but we will have to wait and see.

The latest Office for Budget Responsibility report says it expects the Bank of England to raise interest rates to 4.5% by the middle of next year. Earlier in the year, it had forecast borrowing costs would reach 4% by 2030/31.

The Bank of England will announce its latest decision on interest rates next week on 5 November, with a high chance that interest rates will increase from 3.75% to 4.0%.

22/10/2026

VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

Who isn't cheered up by some positive feedback!!

13/10/2026

TOP TIP TUESDAY

You are probably tired listening to news headlines telling you that interest rates are increasing. It's not good news, and you might think there's not much you can do, other than wait and take whatever is available to you, when you get to the end of your current deal.

About 6 months before the end of your current deal is usually the earliest that you can arrange a new deal, as Mortgage Offers are normally not valid for longer than 6 months.

I would recommend that you reach out for some advice as early as you can, to get a deal in place, as this can normally be changed before completion if rates come back down. It is preferable to have something in place that you can change, rather than wait and watch rates increasing week after week, only to find you have to pay more for your Mortgage because you didn't take action early.

17/09/2026

INTEREST RATES HELD AT 3.75%

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee met today and voted to keep interest rates unchanged.

The Committee voted 6–3 in favour of keeping the Bank Rate at 3.75% for now. However, it warned that an interest rate rise is “likely” if the war in Iran continues. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey stated: “The longer this volatility persists, the bigger the impact it will have on inflation, and the more likely it is we will need to raise Bank Rate to ensure that inflation falls back to our 2 per cent target.”

Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that inflation rose to 3.1% in August, up from 2.9% in July. This is not good news for interest rates, particularly because inflation is expected to continue rising if energy costs remain at current levels.

The wider economic picture is difficult for the Bank of England. Although the economy has grown slightly more than expected, unemployment remains at around 5%, and job vacancies continue to fall. Alongside slowing wage growth, these factors make setting interest rates a difficult balancing act.

Many analysts are now predicting a rate rise by the end of the year and Mortgage Fixed Rate have been gradually increasing over the past few weeks.

If your Mortgage deal ends within the next 6 months, it makes sense to review your options now, rather than wait until the last minute. By then you could find that Interest Rates are higher than where they are today.

18/06/2026

BANK BASE RATE REMAINS AT 3.75%

At today’s Bank of England meeting the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep the Bank’s Base Rate at 3.75% for the fourth meeting in a row.

This was the widely expected outcome from today's meeting, however, there is still uncertainty over the impact of high energy prices, and the Bank’s governor Andrew Bailey, said recent drops in oil prices were "encouraging" but high energy prices during the war had still left "inflationary pressure in the pipeline".

Inflation expectations by the end of the year are now lower than the Bank had thought in April, and interest rate policy, in the coming months would depend on the "scale and duration" of the higher energy costs and how much that filtered through to the wider economy through prices and wage demands. The committee is now forecasting that the rate will hit 3.25% in the final three months of the year, which is still above the Bank’s ideal target of 2%.

Today’s vote was 7 members voting to hold the rate and 2 voting for an increase.

17/06/2026

GOOD NEWS FOR INFLATION

Today’s inflation figure was relatively good news. Inflation had been expected to increase to 3.0% in May, but instead remained at 2.8%, unchanged from April.

This is welcome news not only for our pockets, when we go shopping, but also reduces the risk of interest rate increases.

At one point after the Iran conflict began, some Economists were predicting 4 increases of 0.25% each, to the Bank Base Rate, which did seem a little pessimistic, but now things are more optimistic with thoughts of potentially one increase by the end of the year.
The Bank of England meets tomorrow to decide on where they feel rates should sit, and the general consensus of opinion is that the risk of an increase being announced is very low, but we will update you on the outcome of the meeting when it's details are announced.

Over the past few weeks we had already been seeing lenders making small reductions to Fixed rates and this news, together hopefully a signed peace deal between the US and Iran this week, may prompt a few more cuts. Tracker deals have recently been popular with the lenders, with lower rate options than some Fixed rate deals. However, whilst some borrowers like them, they are not for everyone. For other borrowers stability and peace of mind are more important than the lowest rate.

In relation to the housing market, we had recently felt there was a slight reduction in house purchases for a few weeks, but that already seems to have been picking up again, with First-Time Buyers, Home Movers, and Landlords all active at the moment.

20/05/2026

INFLATION DROPS – HOW? AND WILL IT STAY DOWN?

The inflation figure for April is a bit of an anomaly.

We all feel that prices are going up, and especially when we go to fill up the car or work van with petrol or diesel. Diesel costs were up 34.1% and petrol costs were up 16.6% in April.

However, Ofgem reduced the Energy Price Cap by 7% from 1st April, which is the maximum price Energy companies can charge for Gas and Electricity. This was the biggest factor in reducing the overall inflation figure and was due to Government intervention to reduce bills. They moved 75% of the cost of the UK’s renewable energy obligation, from energy bills to general taxation. This means the costs will still be there but collected in other taxes rather than through the energy companies.

The timing of Easter also artificially affected the April figures.

So what is expected to happen to inflation from here?
Experts have warned that inflation will continue to rise as the war in Iran, which has caused the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, continues to push up wholesale oil and gas prices. The Energy Price Cap is set to increase significantly from July, with suggestions that the price cap could be increased by 13%, for a typical household using both gas and electricity.

There are also concerns that higher fuel and energy prices will soon start to feed through to food costs and the price of other goods.

How is this all going to affect interest rates?
The next Bank of England meeting follows the next set of inflation figures due out for May. The May figures will affect the Bank’s decision, but this month’s figures being better than expected may reduce the likelihood of a rate increase being announced at the June meeting. The meeting following that will be at the end of July and with so many unknowns it would be premature to try to predict the outcome of that meeting.

If your current Mortgage deal ends in the next 6 months, it would make sense to have some initial discussions now, about the best way forward, rather than leaving it to nearer the time. It may be better to have something locked in, with the option to be able to change it again if rates improve.

07/05/2026

THANK YOU

We really appreciate the kind comments.

30/04/2026

BANK BASE RATE REMAINS AT 3.75%

I have not been listening to the news today, but I’m sure if I had, there may have been a few mentions of interest rates.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met earlier today to agree the latest rate. Not unexpectedly, they voted 8-1 to hold the rate at 3.75%, with one member voting for a rate increase.

The uncertainty linked to the Iran conflict means there are likely to be some difficult decisions ahead, with inflation already up to 3.3% last month, a figure which was higher than expected.

On a more practical level, it has been interesting times, in the Mortgage Market, since I posted after the last meeting.

We have had daily interest rate changes, sometimes twice from the same lenders in a single day.

We have had a change from Fixed Rates generally dominating the top 10 lowest cost Mortgage deals, with hardly a Tracker deal in sight to Trackers taking the top spots and Fixed Rates relegated to further down the lists.

This is making it more difficult for borrowers to decide between risking a Tracker Mortgage to get the current cheapest option, or to pay more for the peace of mind of a Fixed Rate. We’ve been having many discussions on the subject, and there isn’t a right or wrong answer. Everyone has different views, as to which way they prefer to go. Wasn’t it so much easier to make decisions when Fixed Rates were often the lowest cost option, whilst also offering stability and peace of mind!

On a more positive note, the chaos of continual rate increases has subsided and over the past couple of weeks we have seen a number of lenders making some Fixed Rate reductions. This doesn’t mean that Fixed interest rates will continue to drop unless the crisis in Iran is resolved very soon.

The MPC said future interest rate decisions could depend on how strong the second-round effects are of higher global energy prices, which are seen in prices and wages. Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s governor, said: “It would be a mistake to wait to see the second-round effects before acting, because it would be too late.”

This would indicate that we can expect to see increases to the Bank Base Rate later in the year if the war continues.

03/04/2026

Happy Easter 🐰🐣🐰

We hope you enjoy a relaxing break with lots of chocolate.

The office will be closed on Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th, and re-opens on Wednesday 8th at 9:30 am.

Address

96 Dufferin Avenue
Bangor
BT203AD

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 5pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5pm
Friday	9:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+442891456262

Website

http://www.14Ufinancialsolutions.co.uk/

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