Chancellor Darling may be powerless, but you aren’t

The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold today, but there are indications that it may be persuaded to cut rates later on. However, homeowners should not assume that high-street lenders will pass on any interest-rate cut to everyone.

Recently, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, urged lenders to pass on December’s interest rate cut to homeowners. But lenders are not obliged to convey changes in the Bank of England’s interest rates to consumers. The Central Bank’s base rate is merely a guide to the cost of borrowing.

Consequently, homeowners may not benefit if the Bank of England cuts rates in future. That is unless they have taken out mortgages that specifically track the Bank of England’s base rate.

David Kuo, Head of Personal Finance at Fool.co.uk, says: “It is quite sweet of Mr. Darling to be concerned about mortgage payers. But it is also quite wrong of him to fill homeowners with empty hopes that rate cuts by the Bank of England will trickle into their pockets.

“High street lenders are currently more concerned with rebuilding their battered businesses than repairing consumers’ finances. Therefore, many homeowners are unlikely to reap the benefits, even though there are indications that the Bank of England may continue to cut interest rates to stimulate the flagging British economy.

“Homeowners on lenders’ Standard Variable Rates should take active steps to switch to tracker-rate mortgages. Changing from a typical SVR of 7% to a tracker rate of 5.5% can slash repayments on a 25-year, £200,000 mortgage by £185 a month.

“When times get tough, the tough get going and homeowners need to get moving too. They need to use their guile to help themselves rather than rely on the empty gestures of politicians.”