Chancellor calls on lenders to pass on interest rate cuts

The chancellor, Alistair Darling, has called on banks and building societies to pass on any cuts in interest rates to homeowners.

Speaking at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's monthly press conference, he claimed that lenders have a duty to ensure any rate change is mirrored in the mortgage market.

His comments come after a number of companies did not reduce their standard mortgage rates in line with the Bank of England's decision to take 0.25 per cent off the interest rate last month.

"I would hope that if interest rates continued to come down then the benefit of that reduction would be passed on to mortgage payers," Mr Darling said.

"Just as people recognise that when interest rates go up their mortgage rates go up, they expect that when interest rates come down the lenders will reduce the rates so that they can benefit," he added. "It is part of the deal."

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is set to announce its monthly interest ratedecision tomorrow (January 10th).

Related Articles

Millions of borrowers dissapointedNew fixed mortgage rate from Northern RockBM Solutions launch new mortgage ratesHBoS close TMBNew offset mortgage rates from Coventry