Woolwich cuts mortgage rates
Updated on 09 July 2008
One of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders has reduced its rates following a fall in the cost of wholesale funding.
Barclays' lending arm, The Woolwich, has cut its tracker deals by 0.1% and its fixed-rate products by up to 0.3%.
The move follows reductions made by other major lenders last week, including Abbey, Nationwide and Cheltenham & Gloucester.
But the cut leaves only three of The Woolwich's mortgages lower than they were on June 24, before the group hiked some of its fixed-rate and tracker deals by up to 0.4%.
The trend for lenders to cut their rates is good news for consumers, after the average cost of a fixed-rate mortgage hit a new 11-year high of 7.07% earlier this week.
Following the changes The Woolwich is now offering a lifetime tracker rate with no arrangement fees and no redemption charges of 0.89% above base rate for people with a 40% deposit, giving a current rate of 5.89%.
The group has also relaunched its range for people with just a 10% deposit after temporarily withdrawing it.
Homeowners borrowing 90% of their property's value can now get a lifetime tracker with a current rate of 6.69% or a five-year fixed-rate deal of 6.99% with a £995 arrangement fee.
The lender said it had cut its rates following a stabilisation in swap rates for three, five and 10 year loans.
It added that it had reduced the cost of its lifetime tracker in a bid to encourage people who were currently on standard variable rates to remortgage.
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