As HSBC drops its Home Buyer Mortgage variable rate to 4.49% this week (4.24% for loans over £250,000), it has calculated that seven out of the country’s top 10 lenders charge their customers at least £14,000 more than HSBC. Eight out of 10 mortgages are held with the UK’s top 10 lenders – over half on variable rates. But the difference between rates is often more than 1% - equating to hundreds of pounds a year in extra mortgage repayments for some.
Clive Wood, head of banking and mortgages at HSBC, is urging borrowers to examine their mortgage deal. He said: “With the base rate at 3.5%, there’s no reason why homeowners should be paying over 5.5% interest on a variable rate mortgage. Even if your lender has recently cut its variable rate, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are getting the best deal over the longer term.”
