Here’s what’s been going on in the world of personal finance and money today:
From Money Watch:
- Breaking News: Interest Rates Cut By 1.5% – The Bank of England has cut interest rates by 1.5%, down to 3%, the lowest level since 1955.
- Interest Rate Cut Is A Double-Edged Sword – Whenever there is a cut in interest rates, we often start talking about how homeowners will benefit with reduced mortgage repayments. Of course, things aren’t as cut and dried as that – there are winners and losers.
From around the web:
- Who benefits from rate cut? – Robert Peston on why the Bank of England interest rate changes are broken, and aren’t having the effect that they’re meant to.
- Millions of savers to miss out following interest rate cut – Millions of savers will miss out as banks and building societies began withdrawing some of their most attractive savings deals following the interest rate cut.
- Interest rate cut: What savers should do – Savers seeking the best rates for their money should act fast, since good deals are now disappearing.
- Savers will pay a heavy price for the Bank of England’s desperation – Savers will pay for the Bank of England’s increasingly desperate attempts to bail out overextended borrowers, most notably the occupants of Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street. This week’s cut in base rate by a third to its lowest level in more than half a century is merely the latest evidence of that trend.
- Interest rates: How low can your mortgage go? – The Bank of England’s shock decision to cut interest rates to 3pc will be welcome news to borrowers with tracker mortgages. But some of these loans have a sting in the tail: they stop tracking the base rate once it falls to a certain level.
- The (short term) Death of the Tracker Mortgage! – Most lenders are pulling their tracker mortgage products – will they reappear?
- Will the Bank of England’s rate cut help your wallet? – Will borrowing costs fall for the wider population?
- Mortgage repayments – how much will you save? – The Bank of England’s surprise cut to interest rates from 4.5 per cent to 3 per cent is great news for homeowners with tracker-rate mortgages, which are directly linked to the base rate. Borrowers on Standard Variable Rate (SVR) mortgages will have to wait to see if, and by how much, their lender cuts their rate.
- Icesave refunds will take weeks – Some savers with the insolvent Icesave internet bank may have to wait nearly five more weeks to get their money.