Watch That Mortgage

Summary: Bank of England interest rates have been steady since August 2005 and even that move was southwards. Why then are thousands of mortgage customers up in arms about an unexpected and unwelcome increase in the cost of their mortgages? Customers of the Nottingham Building Society have been staggered to receive letters from the Nottingham advising them of an interest rate rise, via an increase in its SVR (standard variable rate). Mortgages linked to the SVR have had the interes...

Bank of England interest rates have been steady since August 2005 and even that move was southwards. Why then are thousands of mortgage customers up in arms about an unexpected and unwelcome increase in the cost of their mortgages? Customers of the Nottingham Building Society have been staggered to receive letters from the Nottingham advising them of an interest rate rise, via an increase in its SVR (standard variable rate). Mortgages linked to the SVR have had the interest rate raised from 6.39% to 6.49% In the early part of 2006, the Nottingham Building Society made the headlines by topping the best buy mortgage tables for a number of weeks, offering a three year discount at only 4.35%, so this move has been seen as quite a turn-around and many brokers are less than complimentary about the move. N&P (Norwich and Peterborough) are another society who has raised their SVR from 6.3% to 6.49%. This will not concern most of N&P's borrowers, as most of their deals are of the tracker type, which is linked to base rate. These are both medium sized building societies. A spokesman for the Nottingham says that the less than