Interest Rate Cut To 1%: RBS/Natwest, HSBC, Abbey, Barclays, Halifax

The Bank of England (BOE) has just cut the interest rate to one percent and that rate is the lowest that it has ever been in the banks history.

Advisors are now telling their customers that they should lock in rates right now, as they are as low as they will go. On top of this news, Halifax (HX) has took everyone by surprise and stated that January 2009 has seen house prices rise by 1.9% for the first time in almost a year.

How affective this interest rate cut will be depends on what RBS/Natwest, Abbey (LON:ANLA), Barclays (BARC), Halifax and many other banks do for their customers. Will they pass on this saving to them?

In December Halifax only cuts its SVR by 0.25 percent, which was less than what the BOE cut. Consumers need the full benefit of this rate cut and it’s hoped that this time most borrows get to see the full 0.5% rate cut.

Many feel that the time to buy property is now, it has just increased for the first time in almost a year and the rates are as low as they will go. The perfect time for getting a fixed rate, do you agree?

The house price increase is a good thing but we have a long way to go before we hit the bottom and it may be well into this year before we start to see a turn around. At the time of writing HSBC has just said that it will cut fixed rates and its SVR, but its not yet known how much.Star Trek: Generations full