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Barclays and NatWest announce rate changes

ended 04. March 2024

Barclays has just announced it is “making a number of changes across our residential purchase and remortgage range and our Buy to Let range. These changes consist of increases and decreases.” Meanwhile, NatWest has also announced rate changes this afternoon (see attached screengrab). Newspage asked brokers for their thoughts, below.

9 responses from the Newspage community

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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
A disaster is all you can call all the rate movement from top UK lenders in the past week. Something's got to change as this hardly fits in with the Financial Conduct Authority's new Consumer Duty rules. To see one High Street lender, Barclays, increasing some of its rates yet decreasing others just creates even more chaos and lack of understanding among consumers. How lenders can show resistance to a decent industry 48-hours notice period on mortgage rate changes, quoting it would affect profitability, and then the same lenders all recently announcing huge profits, is head wobbling.
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Charles Breen
Founder at C B
Lenders are flouting Consumer Duty rules. Rate changes with little, if any notice, are fuelling financial fear in mortgage holders across Britain. These lightning strike announcements are leaving both brokers and consumers reeling. How can any broker have certainty in their advice with rates liable to change with mere hours’ notice? This is more evidence of Consumer Duty Denied for the ordinary borrower.
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Amit Patel
Adviser at Trinity Finance
As the Budget inches ever closer, lenders will get more nervous and we will most likely see a wave of activity over the coming hours with re-pricing here, there and everywhere. The one thing we won't see is a 24-hour pledge from lenders, which is what not only what brokers want but would be in the interest of borrowers.
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Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
Yet more rate increases as we get closer to the Budget. You have to wonder if lenders increasing rates today have had a heads-up in advance of the Budget. We need lenders to commit to a 24-hour pledge of notice, as the notice periods being given are not helping the consumer. Brokers are doing their best to help their clients but this kind of mayhem is doing the exact opposite.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
Another mixed bag of rate increases, and a few reductions, from two of the larger high street banks, again with little time to make calls to borrowers who will potentially be affected. As a result, many could end up paying that little bit more for their mortgage or renewal. An increase of just 0.1% will cost a lot more than the value of 1% off your income tax for most borrowers.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
The Chancellor has been playing down some of the rumours but with 48 hours to go until the Budget, some of the bigger lenders seem to be getting nervous already. Any benefit some Barclays and NatWest customers may have got from Wednesday's Budget is going to be watered down with higher mortgage payments. It's even more infuriating for borrowers who now need to make snap decisons as lenders return to poor practices of short notice withdrawals.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Sometimes we wish our lending partners would listen to what the broker community that originates most of their business are saying. We would love the major lenders to seriously consider agreeing to a 24-hour notice period pledge when repricing products. Chopping and changing products at short notice does not benefit our customers who are at the heart of what we do.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
Changes to products this week are to be expected as lenders brace for the Budget on Wednesday. SWAP rates have taken a slight uptick, which is hopefully what has triggered these and not that they know something we don't about the impending announcements on Wednesday.
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
Here we go again. The postive news from Gen H lasted all of about 5 mins before the goliaths decided to pull the sound and ruin the party. We need stability in the market so borrowers can plan ahead and know what the heck to do. Right now the speed of rate changes is insane.