Mortgage rate round-up: Nationwide, Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Barclays SVRs down
Several banks have already confirmed cuts to their standard variable mortgage rates following the base rate, bringing down repayments for many homeowners.
Lenders with policies in place to track the Bank of England base rate, including Skipton Building Society, Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide, upheld their pledge.
Borrowers on Skipton's standard variable rate (SVR) will now see their monthly payments fall, as the rate drops to 3.5 per cent.
Chief executive, David Cutter, said: "We have pledged our residential SVR will never be more than three per cent above base rate and, even with this is at its lowest level for 315 years, we will honour our promise."
Meanwhile, Nationwide base mortgage rate customers will benefit from a rate of 2.50 per cent from April 1st 2009, while the standard variable rates of the Derbyshire and Cheshire building societies will also fall to 2.50 per cent from the beginning of April.
Andy McQueen, Nationwide savings and mortgages director, said: "Nationwide's BMR is already one of the lowest amongst major high street lenders and this move will maintain that position, as well as reducing monthly payments for a borrower with a £150,000 interest only mortgage by £62 a month."
Lloyds TSB also guarantees its SVR will remain no higher than two per cent above the base rate, which means customers will see their rate fall to 2.5 per cent from April 1st.
HSBC has also announced it will lower interest rates by 0.5 per cent for the "majority" of mortgage borrowers, but its SVR, currently at 3.94 per cent, is under review.
Barclays, which offers mortgages through its Woolwich brand, said all customers on tracker mortgages will benefit from the change, as the Barclays Bank Base Rate reduces by 0.5 percentage points to 0.5 per cent, in line with the Bank of England rate.
However, savers will see their rates unchanged by the move.
Royal Bank of Scotland, which also operates NatWest, plans to "balance the need of borrowers and savers" with any rate changes. Although customers holding one of the banks' flexible mortgages will see their rates fall by 0.25 per cent from April 1st, the SVR will remain at four per cent.
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