Base, Mortgage and Credit Card Interest Rates
When did base rates last change? Where were mortgage rates in 1991? And how has the cost of borrowing on credit changed in the last 10 years? See how past base rate changes affect mortgage and credit card interest rates since 1991.
Historical UK Interest Rate Data
Base Rates are at a historically very low, with the bank of england wavering on reducing the rate from 4.75% (July 05). Your mortgage is probably quite affordable now, but what would happen if it increased to levels last seen at the start of the 90's? The base rate was around 10% at that time and the mortgage rate was higher still. If interest rates went back up to that level then the repayments on a 130K mortgage would increase from around £800 a month to over £1400. Would you be able to afford this??
However an increase in interests rates to that level is quite unlikely at the moment, the bank of england is keen to avoid a housing market crash, and to do that they need to keep interest rates low.
Past UK Mortgage Rates
The money markets are quite good at prediciting which way mortgage rates are going, if you look at the 'Historical Mortgage Rates' data below you can see that changes in mortgage rates generally slightly preceed changes to the base rate. If you look at the present day you can see mortgage rates are going down, indicating that the finanical market expects a cut in the base rate soon. Now would probably be a good time to pick up a ong term fixed mortgage. Note that the rates quoted are typical 'standard variable rates', there are cheaper discounted mortgages available.
Past UK Credit Card Interest Rates
Credit card interest rates also follow the base rate, but as you can see from the 'Historical Credit Card Interest Rate' data the overall interest rate is much,much higher. Instead of being the base rate + 1%, credit card interest rates are more like the base rate + 10%! Obviously using a credit card to borrow money is an expensive way of doing things.
NEW Check out our onlineMortgage Comparison tool for the best rates and deals available for mortgages
Please feel free to leave a comment about this page
Was this page useful? Do you have something to add? Do you disagree?
If your comments meet our
guidelines then we will publish them (you do not need to register!)
Or why not tell a friend and email
this
page to someone
Date Added: Sunday 15th November 2009
"Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a date when the original data or facts were posted."
Pat.C
Date Added: Thursday 30th July 2009
"Correction For IUMTLMV read IUMTHAK M Randall"
M Randall
Date Added: Thursday 30th July 2009
"WebMaster – please look at the way the one navigates to a specific page on your site ( Originally I only found it by serendipity) The Path was WhatPrice/Financial/Saving&Investing/InterestRates but neither of the last two steps were to be found in the top lines as tabs, (Add one more line of tabs specific to the page, but carry that line on to succeeding pages?). May I have a second bite of the interest and inflation cherry? The INTEREST less than INFLATION scene, mentioned in my first post, appears to have occurred during the 7 years, 2002 to 2008. When I compared SaversRates data for a £10K counter deposit (origin was NationwideBS because their numbers are higher than BoE’s IUMTLMV table) with Inflation (RP04) I found that there was no Real-Income during those years. The tax taken thus came from Savings Capital. Yes, it appears that there is an annual tax on SavingsCapital. I calculated that the average was about £3.60 per year on £1000 of Savings. Then in good biblical fashion I compared the 7 lean years with 7 fat years. I found that, in the previous years, 1995 to 2001 the Real tax rate on real savings income averaged 113%. The data is out there, so anyone might attempt the Capital-Tax and Real-Income-Tax arithmetic for those years, and improve on my rough and ready estimates. If others arrive at the same conclusion, E.G. Chancellors taking over 100% income tax in real terms during the good years and, in bad times making an annual tax on Savers Capital, well we might just look for changes. Please not a change of Government, just a change of taxation system, and a real effort to control inflation. M Randall "
M Randall
Date Added: Saturday 18th July 2009
"Web-master - Please show the date of the page, i.e. when first posted and then when modified. My first estimate of the "average interest rate" paid on ordinary savings is "less than the rate of inflation". Yearly and monthly data for Rate of Deflation/Inflation, both RPI and CPI, can be found at the OfNS. (www.statistics.gov.uk) Search for documents, RP 04 and CPI 12 Please allow for the Chancellor's take 0, 20, 40, or 50% of the headline interest rate; as INCOME tax, before allowance for inflation. In real value terms, this can take all the interest and some of the capital too, yet nobody appears interested in this sometimes annual raid by a "stealth tax" on saved capital. "
M Randall
Date Added: Thursday 11th June 2009
"What would be the average interest rate paid on ordinary savings accounts for the period 1990- 2008"
v.tomlison
Date Added: Monday 9th February 2009
"Some people are such morons. Lol to the grammar bloke."
ASP
Date Added: Friday 30th January 2009
"who is the idiot going on about spelling who can't spell grammar?"
m. hickey
Date Added: Saturday 24th January 2009
"Oh dear! Shouting off about spelling and getting 'grammer' wrong. How embarrassing for you..."
Kelsey Grammar
Date Added: Friday 9th January 2009
"Needs attention to update the graph for 2007-2008 and early 2009"
A.G.Rickwood
Date Added: Tuesday 26th August 2008
"How would i find average savings rates in uk since 1990"
Sonya
Date Added: Friday 15th August 2008
"Don't you mean grammar you douche?"
you're a douche
Date Added: Thursday 8th May 2008
"Where will I find details of mortgage rates from 1948 to the present day? "
John Wingett
Date Added: Friday 28th March 2008
"Your financial know how may be sound, but your written English is appalling!What about getting someone to check your spg. (spelling punctuation and grammer!)"
Vic Hoggard