Abacus Daily Debt News

Banks to pass on base rate cut

Halifax is to reduce its mortgage rates following yesterday’s announcement by the Bank of England that it is cutting the base rate by 0.5 per cent.

The lender has announced that customers with an existing tracker mortgage will benefit from the full 50 basis point reduction when the changes are implemented on February 1st.

However, those with standard variable rate (SVR) homeowner loans will only see a partial cut, from 4.75 per cent to 4.50 per cent.

Abbey is also set to give its tracker mortgage customers the benefit of reduced rates however, it has yet to confirm whether those with SVR packages or new customers looking to take out a tracker loan will see the benefits.

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee reduced the base rate from two per cent to 1.5 per cent, meaning the figure is now at its lowest since the Bank was formed in 1694.

By Tom Musk