First Direct cuts mortgage rate after base rate change

first direct has cut its standard variable mortgage rate by 0.25% from today, 10 April 2007, passing on the full benefit of the Bank of England base rate reduction to its customers immediately.

The standard variable rate from the direct bank will now be 6.00% (6.2% APR), one of the lowest from any major bank or building society.

first direct recently announced, that as a temporary measure, it was withdrawing its mortgages from sale to non first direct customers. The move was to enable the bank to focus its efforts entirely on processing the unprecedented number of applications for its home loans in recent weeks.

The bank continues to offer its mortgage products to existing first direct customers, regardless of whether they have a mortgage with the bank. It is expected to reopen its doors to new customers again in the coming weeks.