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Santander follows Halifax in hiking rates

ended 28. July 2026

Santander has become the latest major lender to hike rates today, increasing most fixed rates and selected tracker rates across its new business range and selected residential fixed rates in its product transfer range. There are no changes to tracker rates in its remortgage and product transfer ranges, or BTL rates in our product transfer range. Changes >> here <<. Any thoughts by 07:00 tomorrow please.

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
Santander’s rate hikes hit at a critical juncture for UK borrowers, signaling persistent upward pressure driven by volatile swap rates.
By raising fixed and selected tracker rates for new buyers alongside residential fixed deals for existing clients, Santander aligns with a broader market shift following similar moves across major lenders. Leaving BTL and certain remortgage trackers intact offers minor relief, but the trend is clear:, windows are tightening, and borrowers facing upcoming renewals must secure rates promptly to avoid escalating costs.
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Editor
Anthony McQuilliam
Director at Bolt Mortgages
When Santander follows Halifax within 24 hours, that's not a coincidence — that's a signal. The two biggest high street lenders repricing on the same day tells borrowers everything they need to know about where the market is heading in the short term.

What's worth noting is that Santander has left BTL product transfer rates alone for now, which suggests lenders are being tactical rather than blanket repricing. But residential borrowers on new business shouldn't bank on that window staying open.

The pattern is familiar: one major lender moves, others follow within days. Anyone waiting to see 'how things settle' is usually the last one through the door before rates climb again. If a renewal or purchase is on the horizon in the next six months, the conversation with a broker needs to happen today — not next week
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Jon Davis
Founding Director at Davis & Co Financial Solutions Ltd
This is certainly showing where the market is heading for now, and the way the lenders are acting with these changes is putting the stress and strain on both the customer and the broker. With a consistant trend now from most of the lenders of issuing their notice of increases by email at around 3pm, its meaning customers are going to be missing out on deals and brokers are under enormous stress to work until midnight to try and get as many of these as they can over the line, however, I'm sure the offices of these lenders will still clear out at 5pm on the dot though. Whilst rate increases are part and parcel of things, lenders really do need to do better in notifying the market of these changes as its just not good enough.