Chancellor to press lenders to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers
April 18, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to tell mortgage lenders to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers during a meeting with representatives from the Council of Mortgage Lenders next Tuesday (April 22nd), according to Bloomberg.
The Bank of England cut its base rate by 0.25 per cent last week and by three-quarters of a point since December, however many lenders failed to drop their mortgage rates.
Rates on the most popular mortgages rose to the highest level in eight years last month.
“We do need to make sure that people with mortgages see the benefits,” Mr Darling said in an interview in China today.
Following a meeting with banks on Tuesday, the government was warned that under the current credit crunch many smaller lenders could be forced to stop offering new mortgages, forcing consumers to turn to large providers.
The Bank is reportedly working on a plan to intervene in the UK mortgage market, according to The Financial Times.
