Mortgage lenders raise variable rates after the base rate rises to 4%

[Foden]

Homeowners on variable mortgages will soon pay a little more each month. MoneySavingExpert reports that after the Bank of England raised the base rate from 3.75 percent to 4 percent on 5 November, most lenders are adding 0.25 percentage points, which works out at about £15 a month more per £100,000 borrowed

Standard variable rate changes include Barclays rising from 5.74 to 5.99 percent from 1 December, Halifax from 7.24 to 7.49 percent, Nationwide from 6.49 to 6.74 percent and Santander from 6.5 to 6.75 percent from 3 December. Co-op rose from 6.62 to 6.79 percent from 9 November

HSBC and First Direct trackers rose straight away, while many others change from 1 December. NatWest, RBS and the Post Office had not confirmed their changes at the time

People on fixed rate deals are unaffected until their fix ends, and those on standard variable rates of 6 to 7 percent should look at fixed deals around 5 percent. Martin Lewis notes that new fixed rates are not directly based on the base rate, and on savings, MSE says the minimum you should be getting is 4.5 percent

Anyone sitting on a standard variable rate could save a lot by switching to a fixed deal, so this is a good prompt to check. The rise also means better savings rates, which is welcome news for savers. Shopping around for both mortgages and savings is more important than ever

Are you on a fixed or variable mortgage? And have you moved your savings to a better rate recently?

Mortgage Rate Hikes Base Ratewww.moneysavingexpert.com