Nationwide waivers collar clause and cuts SVR to 4 percent

Nationwide Building Society said last night it would cut its Standard Variable Rate SVR by 0.67 and waive the collar clause in its existing tracker mortgage rates. Nationwide have vowed that they will pass any future cuts on in full. This now put Nationwide’s Standard Variable Rate SVR at 4 percent.

By Nationwide ignoring the collar (floor) clause, it means that the UK’s biggest Building Society has passed on the full rate reduction to its customers on existing tracker mortgage products (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 5th, 2008 | Comments (0)

Halifax only cuts its SVR by 0.25 percent

Halifax, which is part of HBOS and Britain’s biggest lender, announced that it will only be passing 0.25 percent of the 1 percent Bank of England Base Rate cut onto it customers that are on variable rate deals.

Halifax Standard Variable Rate (SVR) will reduce to 4.75 percent after the 0.25 percent cut from January 1. Halifax said that it had “balanced the interest of its customers with the (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (1)

Barclays Mortgage arm Woolwich reduces SVR by 1.15 percent

Barclays (LON:BARC) mortgage arm Woolwich have announced they will be reducing their Standard Variable rate (SVR) by 1.15 percent to 5.49 percent following the bank of England interest rate cut today, not such a great reduction considering Woolwich did not make any cuts in November.

HSBC (LON:HSBA) have agreed they will also cut their SVR by at least 1 percent, Bristol & West also said they will reduce their SVR by at least 1 percent following the base (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (0)

Santander owned Abbey passes on rate cut

Abbey (LON:ANLA) the Spanish owned bank have said they will pass Bank of England Interest rate cut of 1 percent to all its customers an its variable rate mortgages that track the base rate, this will include all flexible deals, the changes will take place from January 1.

However, Abbey is withdrawing all its tracker products tonight, so the only reductions will apply to existing Abbey Mortgage (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (0)

Nationwide Tracker Collar Clause is Justified said Spokesperson

A Spokesperson for Nationwide Building Society said due to the Collar (floor) being clearly outlined in the Key Fact Illustration (KFI) as well as in the societies terms and Conditions they are completely justified in enforcing the clause.

Whilst hundreds of thousands of customer rejoice today after the interest rate cut, there are many customers that are on tracker products that will miss out partly or completely on the Bank (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (0)

No Collar Clause: Lloyds TSB, C&G and Barclays

If you have a tracker mortgage with Lloyds TSB (LON:LLOY), Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) or Barclays (LON:BARC), you will be pleased to hear that these lenders do not have the hidden Collar clause in their existing tracker contacts. Trackers mortgages are pegged to the Bank of England base rate so are affected if the Bank of England raises or reduces the base interest rate.

With the Bank of England cutting the interest rate by a further 1 percent (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (0)

Interest Rate Cuts: Global Round-up

The UK have just announced a cut of 1 percent in the base interest rate taking the UK interest rate to the lowest level since 1939, the Bank of England Base Rate is now at 2 percent.

Sweden, earlier this week cuts the country’s interest rate by a record 1.75 percent to 2 percent. Indonesia’s central bank cut its interest rate this morning (read more…)

Category: Global Economy, Interest Rates | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (0)

Official: Interest Rate Cut Again by 1 Percent: Will Banks Follow?

Midday today the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee cut the base interest rate by a full 1 percent this follows last month’s shock rate cut of 1.5 percent which was the biggest cut in 27 years.

This move takes the key interest rate to its lowest level since September 1939 and now stands at 2 percent.

Lloyds TSB (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (0)

Pound Tumbles On Anticipation Of Interest Rate Cut

The British Pound tumbles against the dollar to $1,4528 this morning as currency markets await the decision by the Bank of England to cut the base interest rate again by midday today.

Last night the pound sterling fell to its lowest level in 13-years at $1.4668, sterling also hit a record low against the euro, which jumped 86.74p. Since the single European currency was formed (read more…)

Category: Business News, Global Economy, Interest Rates | December 4th, 2008 | Comments (0)

Lloyds TSB promise to pass full interest rate cut on

Lloyds TSB (LON:LLOY) have promised that they will pass on any interest rate cut the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee will make tomorrow to its existing customers with tracker and variable mortgages.

Lloyds TSB which is presently in the process of merging with HBOS pledged back in 2002 that its variable rates would never be more than 2 percent above the banks of England (read more…)

Category: Europe, Interest Rates, Mortgage News | December 3rd, 2008 | Comments (0)