The Bank of England increased its base interest rate for the first time in a decade on Thursday (November 2) from 0.25% to 0.5%.

But if all this talk of base rates, inflation targets and monetary policy has you scratching your head, we've got a handy tool to help you figure out what this change means for your mortgage.

Unfortunately, it's likely to be bad news, but only if you have a mortgage with a flexible interest rate.

If you've got a fixed-rate mortgage (like most people in the UK), you'll carry on making the same monthly repayments.

And if you're a saver, you could be looking forward to a small increase in the payments you get from the bank.

To find out what the rate rise will mean for you, just put the amount outstanding on your mortgage, your new interest rate and the number of years left on the loan into the calculator, and it'll tell you how much you can expect to pay each month.

According to the Bank of England, there are more rate rises in store over the next three years, so if you have a mortgage you may want to think about protecting yourself from future hikes.

Property guru Sarah Beeny said: "My advice for homeowners coming to the end of fixed rate deals and those with tracker mortgages would be to lock into a competitive mid-term fixed rate deal as soon as possible.

"There's plenty of great value three and five-year fixed rate deals out there, but these won't be around for long if future rises are predicted."

She also said there's no reason to panic just yet, as we're still benefiting from historically low mortgage rates.