News Tag: Base rate
January 27, 2010
The collapse of the remortage market as borrowers coming to the end of fixed-rate deals opt to remain on reversion rates, is prompting lenders to raise their standard variable rates (SRVs).
According to Moneyfacts.co.uk some borrowers on SVRs have benefited from the record low 0.5% base rate but others have not been so lucky.
The financial website's spokesperson, Michelle Slade, says: "Many ...
Many SVRs “disjointed” from base rate
by Gill Montia
January 22, 2010
Interest rates on personal loans are finally starting to fall.
The average interest rate on the top ten loan deals has fallen to 8.35%, the lowest level since the Bank of England reduced the base rate to 0.5% last March.
When the Bank of England first lowered the base rate, mortgage and current account providers followed suit, while personal loan rates detached themselves ...
Are lenders loosening their purse strings?
by David Masters
November 5, 2009
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has kept the base rate at 0.5% in November, as widely expected.
The historically low rate has been extended for the eighth successive month, in efforts to keep borrowing as cheap as possible as the UK struggles on in recession.
In addition, the Bank has announced that it will pump another ...
Base rate held at 0.5% plus £25bn boost for UK economy
by Gill Montia
September 10, 2009
Consumers have seen very little benefit from the Bank of England holding its base rate at a record low of 0.5% for six months, a consumer advice site pointed out this week.
Interest rates on savings accounts have dropped, while rates on mortgages, credit cards, and personal loans have continued to rise, said Moneyfacts.co.uk.
Research by the site found interest rates ...
Consumers see few benefits from low base rate
by David Masters
August 26, 2009
Barnsley Building Society has launched a range of new Online Bonds paying interest at a fixed rate of up to 5.4%.
The three, four, and five year bonds pay a gross/AER rate of 5%, 5.15%, and 5.4% respectively.
Minimum balance to open the bonds is £100, and maximum is £500,000.
Sarah Lawrence, Barnsley's senior product manager, encouraged savers to "act quickly" because the bonds could be ...
Barnsley launches 5.4% e-bond
by David Masters
August 25, 2009
Consumers taking out a personal loan are "paying through the nose" due to soaring interest rates.
Banks are now charging an average APR of 10.32% on personal loans even though the Bank of England's base rate has been held at a record low of 0.5%.
This compares to an average personal loan APR of 8.71% in 2004.
"Despite the Bank of England slashing Base Rate ...
Rates soaring on personal loans
by David Masters
August 20, 2009
Homeowners will be forced to "scramble around" for good value fixed-rate mortgages in the future as interest rates "fly up", an industry expert has warned.
Jacqueline Thornton, financial planner at Re-Financial Planning, said householders that are currently happy to benefit from currently low-priced standard variable rate mortgages will struggle to find a reasonably priced fixed-rate deal when the Bank of England ...
Expert predicts mortgage “scramble” as rates rise
by David Masters
August 18, 2009
Homeowners increasingly prefer to stick with a standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage rather than taking out a fixed-rate deal.
Research by Unbiased.co.uk found 27% of homeowners are now on an SVR mortgage, compared with 23% earlier this year.
A quarter of those on an SVR mortgage said they have no immediate plans to switch to a fixed-rate deal.
"While in the past it could be ...
SVRs preferred in low-rate climate
by David Masters
July 29, 2009
Banks are pocketing extra cash rather than passing on lower interest rates to mortgage customers, a Daily Mail investigation revealed this week.
Homeowners are paying an average of £1,788 per year more than they should be as banks use the historically low base rate of 0.5% to shore up their ailing coffers.
Twelve months ago mortgage rates were just 0.5% above the ...
Mortgage lenders profit from low base rate
by David Masters
July 3, 2009
HSBC-owned first direct has launched a new offset tracker mortgage with an interest rate at 2.48% above the Bank of England's base rate.
With the Bank of England's base rate at 0.5%, this gives first direct's mortgage a headline rate of 2.98%, or 3.2% APR.
Unlike any other tracker mortgage currently available, first direct's product is capped at 4.99% until 2012.
The mortgage is ...
Capped tracker mortgage from first direct
by David Masters
June 29, 2009
The tracker versus fixed-rate dilemma that currently faces homeowners has been investigated by moneysupermarket.com, with the odds laid out as follows:
Mortgage borrowers on tracker rates saw their monthly repayments fall substantially, as the base rate plummeted to 0.5%.
However, further falls in the base rate are unlikely whereas a rise is inevitable, probably by the end of the year.
This prospect makes the idea of a ...
Tracker/fixed-rate dilemma unravelled
by Gill Montia
June 9, 2009
Savers looking to open a new account this month can secure a 2.6% interest rate with the Sainsbury's Finance Internet Saver account.
For Internet Saver accounts opened between 9th and 30th June, the supermarket financial provider will pay 1.85% above the account's standard interest rate for 12 months, provided the account holder does not make more than three withdrawals in that period.
Savers ...
Sainsbury’s pays 2.6% to internet savers
by David Masters
June 5, 2009
Millions of current account holders have been stung by a hike to overdraft rates this week, with both Nationwide and Barclays increasing overdraft charges.
Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society, has increased interest charged on overdrafts for the third time in a year, with overdrawn customers paying nearly double compared to 12 months ago.
Barclays, meanwhile, has put the overdraft rate on its ...
Current accounts stung by overdraft rates hike
by David Masters
May 1, 2009
Fixed-rate mortgages are set to grow in popularity because the base rate was held rather than cut last month, Abbey claimed this week.
Research by the mortgage lender found that the number of people who believe the base rate has fallen as low as it will go has doubled in the past month.
Meanwhile, the number of homeowners holding out for a lower base ...
Fixed-rate mortgages popular with homeowners
by David Masters
April 30, 2009
Leeds Building Society has announced that its fixed-rate ISAs pay interest at up to seven times the Bank of England's base rate.
Kim Rebecchi, Leeds's director of sales and marketing, said the building society's five year fixed-rate ISA, which pays interest at 3.5%, is a 'market leading offer'.
"With many ISAs in the market paying less than 2%, investors could be ...
Leeds ISA pays seven times the base rate
by David Masters
April 27, 2009
Nationwide has announced that customers taking out fixed-rate mortgages will no longer revert to its base mortgage rate (BMR), when the fix comes to an end.
The building society's BMR, which is the equivalent to a standard variable rate (SVR), has been falling in line with reductions in the base rate and currently stands at a market leading 2.5%.
However, ...
Nationwide mortgage rate parts company with the base rate
by Gill Montia
April 24, 2009
Leeds Building Society announced this week that its Regular Saver account offers an interest rate of more than six times the Bank of England's base rate.
The account pays 3.05% gross p.a. APR, with a minimum monthly investment of £20.
Maximum investment allowed is £500 per month.
Savers can make one penalty free withdrawal every 12 months.
Additional withdrawals cause the interest rate on the account ...
LBS regular saver pays 3.05%
by David Masters
April 20, 2009
Pensioners have seen their monthly income slashed by almost a quarter in the last year, research by SHIP has discovered.
SHIP (Safe Home Income Plans) revealed that the 8 million British pensioners are suffering from the drop in income, caused by the collapse in the Bank of England's base rate.
Income from savings has plummeted 90% compared to 12 months ago as the ...
Pensioners’ income down 25% on year
by David Masters
Lenders cut APR on loans
by David Masters
April 7, 2009
Over half of UK savers have no idea what interest rate their savings account is paying, according to new research by uSwitch.com.
The price comparison site found that 22 million savers are clueless as to how much their interest has been reduced since the Bank of England's base rate started falling six months ago.
Meanwhile, sixteen percent of those polled said the Bank ...
Savers befuddled by interest rate cuts
by David Masters
