Interested in interest rates?

If interest rates really do move next year... time to load up?

So Carney the King of the Bank of England circus is firming up his hints that interest rates are heading up, probably in the first half of next year.

If he's right, and your company is or may be in the market for borrowed money, then it may be worth getting your ship in shape and loading up before the interest rate cycle turns.

That'll mean sorting your credit rating to make sure you get the money you want, and at the best possible terms. 

And there are some very very good terms out their at the moment. The Challenger banks (eg Santander, Aldermore) are mustard keen to do deals with SMEs like you, and the big established banks are really working hard to get you guys to take debt from them.

So whether its refinancing or new money Carney, Cable & the Westminster guys would like you to take a look at what's available.

Of course Carney could be wrong. If the Bank was as in control of things as they like to think, we wouldn't have had the Crash in the first place would we?

Rates have been down at the record low of 0.5% since 2009, so no matter how much signalling the Bank does, any movement may come as a shock when it actually happens.

Meanwhile through it's inflation report the Bank is guiding the interest swap markets higher, and they're now predicting rates will be up to 2.25% by 2017 (as the chart shows).

That's a helluvan increase.. 4.5 times!

Of course markets may be good for price discovery, but they're very rarely right with their predictions.

They didn't predict the Crash, did they.

Hell, these guys can't even agree what caused the Crash, let alone what might be happening next.

The Central bankers via the BIS think the Crash was caused by Central banks (notably the Fed in the US) holding interest rates in the west too low for too long

The Monetarists blame the collapse in the Money Supply through 2008

The Keynesians blame a savings glut in the far east that swept across the west in search of security and yield. 

And I know guys who are predicting Man United will be playing Champions League football next year.

So much for predictions.