Banks Cave In On Home Loans Rates
3 years ago
Banking Giants were shamed into slashing their mortgage rates yesterday following a direct order from the Prime Minister.
The move will be cheered by more than a million home owners whose monthly bill will drop by around £135 0n an average £150,000 loan,and many more should benefit soon.It comes after banking chiefs were summoned to an emergency meeting at the Treasury yesterday morning and read the riot act.On Thursady the Bank Of England axed rate by 1.5 poits to 3 per cent,the lowest since 1955 and the biggest cut for nearly 30 years.But most of the big banks totally ignored the central banks extra ordinary move.To Make matters worse,they rushed to pull their cheapest tracker mortgage deals,a major blow for homeowners and first time buyers trying to save money.
The culprits which scrapped trackers include the three- Lloyd's TSB,HBOS,owners of Halifax,and Royal Bank of Scotland owner,owner of NatWest - which are getting a £37 billion taxpayer bail-out.But yesterday the buckled after Gordon Brown demanded the banks do the decent thing and help cash-strapped homeowners by charging " appropriate,not expensive" rates.