Halifax and Nationwide cut rates too
Despite interest rates only being cut yesterday, 2 of the biggest UK lenders have already passed on the benefits to their customers, as of today.
Halifax and Nationwide have both announced that their customers will benefit from the newly lowered base interest rate that was revealed yesterday morning. The Bank of England decided to lower interest rates from 5.75% to 5.5% amid worries of an economic slump.
Halifax have dropped the rates for their borrowers from 7.75% down to 7.5% whilst Nationwide have reduced theirs to 6.99%. This could save approximately £15 per month in repayments for someone with a £100,000 mortgage.
The rapid response will add pressure onto other companies to do the same. Companies such as First Direct, who later announced they would reduce their standard variable interest rate to 6.5%, 0.25% lower than before.
The lower interest rates will certainly help relieve the pressure on many homeowners with escalating repayments, especially next year when many fixed rate discount deals are due to end.
It just proves some financial analysts wrong, who predicted that no-one would pass on the lower rates or would only pass on part of it. However, it is only a small minority of companies that are passing on the reduction at present. Lets hope more will follow suit.
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