If you’re a new borrower then you may be able to take advantage of Abbeys cuts in mortgage interest rates.

You will see the two and three year fixed and tracker rates coming down by up to 0.1% this is on top of the similar cuts that the bank made last Friday.

Over the last month we have seen some of the major lenders reduce their rates, this week Halifax cut the cost on many of its deals, the two-year fixed rate by 0.38%.

36 deals were cut by the bank of Scotland, and some decreased by 0.7%, Bank of Scotland are part of the HBOS group who also own the Halifax. A spokesman for Halifax said that they are aiming for a one-in-five market share, so it’s down to what the other lenders are doing, that also want to ensure that they reach the target lending of 20% of all new mortgages.

It’s believed that house prices may fall by 15% and 20% over the next two years, so banks are reluctant to give larger loans in the event the borrower runs into trouble, the better deals out there are for borrowers who have 25% or more deposit.

The best rate for a two-year tracker mortgages is now 5.89% while its lowest rate for a two-year fixed is 6.19% with Abbey. With the standard upfront lenders fee at just under £1,000 for the 2 deals.
In another bid to win new business, Abbey has reduced their fee to £549 if you take out a load of £150,000 or less.

Source: bbc

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This move by Woolwich follows other lenders like Abbey and Nationwide last week. However it seems as if Woolwich still only has three mortgages lower than they were on June24, just before the lender increased some of their fixed-rate and tracker deals up by 0.4%.

It looks as though these rate cuts are good for the borrowers as they have had to put up with a range of rate increases, these are now at an 11-year high, some rates are now at 7.07%.

The Woolwich are now offering a lifetime tracker with no arrangement fees, there is also no redemption charges of 0.89% above base rate for people with a 40% deposit, this now has a rate of 5.89%.

The Woolwich has also re-launched its range of mortgages for those who only have 10% deposit, after the lender had temporarily withdrawn it.

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