The week unzipped: Banks lower home loan rates

Published on Saturday 6 September 2008 17:12

DESPITE the Bank of England announcing it will maintain the base rate at 5%, many mortgage providers cut their rates last week, although they still come with large fees attached.

Yorkshire Building Society has lowered the interest rate on its two-year fixed rate mortgage to 5.29%. With this latest drop, Yorkshire's two-year fixed rate has now fallen by 0.9% since July.

Standard Life Bank has reduced the rates on its three, five and 10-year fixed residential rates to 5.95%, 6.09% and 6.25% respectively. The Bank has also cut the cost of its Freestyle term tracker products.

Accord Mortgages has cut rates across the full Prime range by up to 0.7%. Accord now offers a two-year fixed rate starting at 5.19%, and three and five-year fixed rates from 5.69%. The mortgage provider pays the legal fees and standard valuation fees on the three and five-year products.

Meanwhile, Halifax has introduced a new rate guard feature to all tracker mortgages which enables borrowers to move to a fixed rate within the first year of their mortgage without penalty.

B&B bond offer

BRADFORD & Bingley has launched fixed-rate bonds paying up to 6.7%.

Two six-month fixed rate options pay 6.4%. One is available in branches or by telephone, and the other is an eBond managed online.

Both bonds have a minimum deposit requirement of 1,000 and a maximum permitted balance of 2m.

Savers looking for a longer fixed term can opt for the one-year fixed bonds paying 6.7%, again available in branches, by telephone and online.

New Isa launched

THE Post Office has added a new cash Isa paying 6.25% to its savings range.

The Isa guarantees to track changes in the base rate until January 2010 and its rate will never fall more than 1% below it.

Savers can open the Isa in branches or by post with just 1.

Savings boost

ALLIANCE & Leicester has increased the interest rate on its eSaver account to 6.56%.

The higher rate is only available to new customers. The account, which pays the same level of interest on all balances from 1 up to 500,000, also includes a bonus of 0.94% until December 7, 2009.

Broker fined

THE Financial Services Authority has fined mortgage broker Approved Financial Solutions Ltd 63,000 for failing to ensure it gave customers suitable advice and accurate information about mortgage charges.

Jonathan Phelan, head of retail enforcement at the FSA, said: "AFS's failings were serious because its sales process enabled vulnerable customers to apply for mortgage contracts that they could not necessarily afford."