Interest rates: Banks and building societies accused of base rate 'DOUBLE STANDARDS'
With speculation rife that the Bank of England could announce a further base rate rise soon, the consumer group Which? looked at how savers and mortgage holders were affected by the previous rise in November, when the base rate was increased from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
An investigation into how mortgage and savings providers reacted to the rate increase in weeks following it, looked at 327 variable instant access savings accounts and Isas and found that in the five weeks after the base rate rise nearly half (48 per cent) did not register any rate change at all.
While just over one in five (21 per cent) had passed on the full 0.25 per cent rise to customers during the period, nearly a third (30 per cent) of accounts saw a rate increase of less than 0.25 per cent.
Overall, of 95 providers in the instant access savings market, Which? found that five weeks on from the Bank of England’s announcement, just one in 10 had applied the full 0.25 percentage point rise to all their instant access savings accounts and Isas.