HSBC, RBS, Halifax, Barclays all FINALLY agree on cut

Nov 07, 2008 | Comments 6

After tense talks and immense pressure from the Government Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC, Barclays, Nationwide, Halifax, Standard Chartered and HBOS all have now agreed to cut their Standard Variable Rates, although not all banks will pass on the full 1.5 percent cut that would shadow the Bank of England’s shock cut yesterday.

This news will benefit millions of homeowners whose mortgage rate tracks the Standard Variable Rate of their lenders. However this will not benefit borrowers who are on fixed rate Mortgage deals until their deals come to an end.

A Treasury source reported that the Chancellor, Alistair Darling came down hard on the lenders who had not acted immediately following the Bank of England Base Rate cut in a urgent meeting this morning, however after a good ticking off they finally caved in.

RBS and its subsidiary NatWest will pass on the full 1.5 percent rate cut along with Nationwide, Halifax and Standard Chartered. However it is unclear at the point if HSBC and Barclays will pass on the full cut.

Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley the two Nationalised banks are still yet to agree on a cut, this news come as a big surprise for many as both banks are government owned. David Cameron today said in an interview with GMTV that these banks will have to pass on the rate, if they fail to do so then the govenment will step in an take necessary actiion.

Source: DailyMail

Filed Under: Mortgage News

Tags: • •

  • robert

    HSBC advised me today that my large advance SVR mortgage rate will be cut by 0.25% to reflect the 1.5% cut by the BoE; their message also says they guarantee that my SVR will not exceed the base rate by more than 1%; to do that they needed to cut the rate by 1.75% as they passed on none of the previous ).5% cut made before; nice generous guys at HSBC

  • douglas gilmour

    at this time of uncertenty and worry for home owners all banks should be utting their svr by the full 1.5%. the likes of the rbs and hsbc are taking liberties.

  • Ben

    It would be nice if HSBC did peg its SVR to 1% above base. I am on a 1.26% discount to SVR, which would make my borrowing cheaper than the BR…

    HSBC have this morning told me that their SVR is still under review and no announcement is currently scheduled.

  • Robin

    HSBC have had their SVR “under review” for 2 weeks now. Apparently those of us who have a mortgage with HSBC linked to their SVR make up only 3%… STILL no decision and thus far HSBC have failed to pass on ANY of the equivalent of EIGHT 0.25% cuts from the BoE.

    These products were sold (with a large set-up fee) on the basis that the rates would move approximately in line with the BoE rate. I think this amounts to mis-selling…

  • CHRIS

    Barclays have NOT reduced SVR !

  • Steve

    My Woolwich OpenPlan Reserve is still at the 6.6% SVR rate.

    Our secured loan with Beneficial (HSBC) is still at 6.7%

    Niether of these banks have passed on anything to their customers.