Helen Nugent

Lenders punish borrowers who slip onto standard variable rates

When you’ve been writing about money for a while, a few key phrases crop up again and again. But of all the useful words employed in the world of consumer finance, ‘shop around’ is by far the most popular.

‘Make sure to shop around’ never goes out of fashion, and for good reason. It applies to pretty much every financial product there is, from bank accounts, saving plans and life cover to car insurance, ISAs and mortgages. It’s that last one I want to concentrate on today.

New research from Trussle, an online mortgage broker, has found that the UK’s six biggest mortgage lenders are penalising customers who slip onto their Standard Variable Rates (SVR) with a £3,242 hike in annual interest repayments. That’s more than a month’s income for the average household.

I read this study with a weary acceptance – twas ever thus.

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