> With a variable interest rate? The horror that you and other commenters show to variable rates makes me wonder if they work differently in the States to here

> With a variable interest rate? The horror that you and other commenters show to variable rates makes me wonder if they work differently in the States to here in the UK. Here, "variable rate" typically means a fixed number of percentage points above the base rate set by the Bank of England (analogous to the Fed). The base rate is connected to inflation (although it's not exactly the same), so in some ways it's a actually less risky than a fixed rate, because it's value is more stable in real time. The fixed markup over the base is negotiated when you take out the loan, analogous to the differences between rates of fixed-rate loans. In the US does "variable rate" mean something different? If it just means "the lender can vary it to anything it likes", how is that even legal - what's to stop them jacking it up to 1000%?