However, almost half (47%) associate remortgaging with taking on more debt (35%), home renovations (7%) or failing to meet existing repayments (5%).

Research conducted by YouGov on behalf of Habito found that UK borrowers could be missing out because of confusion around the subject. As a result, the broker warned that many borrowers could be surprised by rising interest rates.

The survey also revealed that a significant proportion of  mortgage borrowers had not changed their mortgage product for some time. Two fifths (39%) said they had not changed their mortgage product in the last five years, with 13% having never done so.

In total 4,370 adults were quizzed as part of the study, 1,084 had a mortgage.

Reasons given for not remortgaging or switching a product in the last three years were because borrowers thought they could not save money (20%), that the process was too complicated and stressful (9%) and the application process is too time consuming (5%).

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Left in the dark

Habito CEO, Daniel Hegarty, said: “Our research shows just how badly borrowers have been left in the dark about the benefits of remortgaging, leading many to pay vastly over the odds, at a time when disposable incomes are falling.”

He added: “Should the Bank of England raise rates before the end of this year, monthly repayments will rise for millions of borrowers on tracker or variable rate mortgages.

“This will be the first time in a decade that borrowing costs have gone up. We have already seen a price hike from a number of lenders in anticipation of this, a trend which will only continue.

“Not only are millions of homeowners’ monthly payments expected to go up, but it is becoming more expensive to remortgage to a cheaper fixed rate, as lenders start to increase the costs of their cheapest products.”