"Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson" <ken_nicolson@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:81mv51l0ah7l052nsrlhf9pnnhjlv6ai8u@4ax.com...
> For the whole term? There was a sliding scale of fixed rates, from
> 0.9% for one year to 2.5% for five or seven (base rates are 2.375%)
> all the may up to over 6 or 7% for the full 35 year term. We took the
> three year option, and after 3 years for a small fee we can
> renegotiate a new fixed rate.

That's what we did, except 5 year fixed. Our bank did offer a fixed rate,
but it is higher than the variable rate has been over the 30 years I
checked. I think we got something like 1.9x% for 5 years.

> >What if the rate happens to fall below
> >1%? Is there a limit they'll absolutely not go below?
>
> I imagine there must be some small print somewhere to avoid them
> having to pay you for your loan!

The BoJ rate is damned near 0% now, but the variable rate is set at some
fixed % above this -- so it could never go below 1% unless the BoJ started
paying banks to borrow money from them (conveivable...)

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom
ryang@gol.com