Leading mortgage tracker funds under pressure to release collar
It has today been revealed that Nationwide has removed the collar from their mortgage tracker fund which stopped the rate on the agreement going below 3.49%. There had been some concern that further reductions in the UK base rate would lead to higher profit margins for UK banks and defeat the object of reducing base rates.
This is a very important climb down by the Nationwide and there are hopes it will be followed by other leading banks in the UK. However, on the whole of the UK banking sector has refused to pass on the full 1% reduction yesterday even though there has been a reduction in lending rates in the money markets. Quite why the banks have taken this attitude remains to be seen but it is causing acute annoyance within the government.
Yet again Gordon Brown has stepped into the breach suggesting that those banks who do not "look after" their customers will face fines and potential freezing of some assets. It looks as though the government and the banks are set to go head-to-head again even though just a few days ago peace appeared to have broken out.
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