UK lenders confirm tracker mortgage cuts, RBS, Clydesdale noncommittal on date

Several UK banks and building societies have confirmed they would be passing a 25 basis points cut to existing mortgage holders and new customers, after the Bank of England lowered the country's benchmark interest rate to a historic low of 0.25%.

However, while tracker mortgages providers are legally obliged to pass on the cut, some mortgage providers remain non-committal on the date they would pass on the cuts, or if other types of variable rate mortgage accounts would also benefit atop tracker mortgages.

Straight out of the blocks, in the wake of the Bank of England's historic decision, was HSBC which has said that both the parent bank and subsidiary First Direct's tracker mortgage holders will see an immediate cut of 0.25% effective on Friday (5 August). Standard variable rate product will also reflect the cut effective 1 September, the bank confirmed.

Meanwhile, Barclays, Coventry Building Society, Halifax, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, Yorkshire Building Society and Virgin Money have also said they would cut both tracker and standard variable rate mortgages from 1 September.

Additionally, a spokesperson for Barclays confirmed to IBTimes UK that the bank has already applied a lower rate for new tracker and standard variable rate mortgage applicants.

However, RBS and Natwest, while saying they would pass on the rate cut to tracker mortgage account holders, have not confirmed the date when the new rate would be applied or whether or not benefits would be passed on to their standard variable rate product holders.

Additionally, Clydesdale, Skipton Building Society and TSB were among the few mortgage providers where all product rates were still "under review" and could be "subject to minimum [floor] rate conditions," i.e. a level below which they would not be prepared to go regardless of where the headline interest rate was.

A 0.25% cut, if passed on to customers, is likely to lower instalments for repayment mortgage rate holders with outstanding 25-year mortgages in the range of £165,000 to £200,000 by £19 to £25 per month.

Updated at 1:23pm BST, on 5 August, 2016 with additional information from HSBC