Some Lenders Reduce Mortgage Interest Rates to Entice Customers
Written by Travis on May 15, 2008
While many banks and lenders have been increasing the interest rates on mortgage despite the three recent base rate cuts a number of lenders have decided to try and take advantage of difficult credit conditions by trimming some of their mortgage rates in order to try and entice customers. Tow banks have recently announced that they will be cutting the interest rate slightly on some of their mortgage products, and this is Abbey and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Spanish owned Abbey recently stated that it would be cutting its two year fixed rate mortgages by 0.11% for both new borrowers and existing ones looking to refinance. The bank’s flexible and tracker rate mortgages are also set to fall by around 0.1%. However, most of its other mortgage loans will either remain static or increase slightly in terms of interest rate. An official from the bank said: “We will continue to offer competitive products whilst still being careful to balance this against the need to maintain service levels for our customers given recent competitor moves.”
In the meantime RBS is also trying to increase its share in the mortgage market by reducing interest rates on some of its mortgage products by between 0.1% and 0.3%. The banks states that it has doubled its share in the mortgage market recently, and one official from RBS said: “Whilst 2008 has seen a shrinking mortgage market, we have actually increased the amount we have lent by 18 percent and plan to continue this trend for the rest of the year.”
In the meantime many lenders continue to remove various mortgage products from the shelves whilst raising interest rates on many others as a result of the global credit crunch that continued to wreak havoc in the money markets.
