Legal doubts over mortgage rate rise

SKIPTON Building Society may have breached consumer contract regulations when it increased its standard variable mortgage rate for 64,000 borrowers, it was claimed yesterday.

Law firm Leon Kaye said it had received advice from counsel that affected customers could have a potential claim under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. Skipton said in January it was increasing its standard variable rate from 3.5 to 4.95 per cent despite a pledge that it would never be more than three points above the Bank of England base rate.