Halifax HSBC Abbey Nationwide And RBS Offer Mortgage Rate Promises

Written by Editorial Team

09 January 2009 / by Rebecca Sargent

Halifax, HSBC, Abbey, Nationwide and RBS have all followed Lloyds TSB in announcing interest rate promises to their mortgage ranges.

The announcements came soon after the Bank of England announced it had cut the Bank rate by a further 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent yesterday, and imply that lenders are heeding the Chancellor’s warnings that the Government may have to intervene if they continue to fail to pass the interest rate cuts on to mortgage customers.

However, of the lenders who have announced rate cuts, Nationwide and HSBC are the only ones to pass on the full 0.5 per cent cut to their standard variable interest rates, whereas Halifax has cut its SVR by 0.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

Existing tracker mortgage customers with RBS, HSBC, Halifax and Abbey will soon be reaping their rewards as all four lenders have vowed to pass on the full rate cut.

However, as usual, a number of products from these leading high street lenders are ‘under review’ as lenders are hit with the dichotomy of whether to help savers who will help them, or mortgage customers, which could in turn boost the economy.

Commenting, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Michael Coogan said: “The cut is a double-edged sword for retail based lenders.

“While lower mortgage rates provide borrowers with the opportunity to repay their mortgage debt more quickly to reduce the term, lower savings rates impact lenders’ ability to attract deposits and maintain the flow of mortgage lending.”

© Fair Investment Company Ltd