Rate change information

The published London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is being wound down.  You were written to in 2021 to explain how your account would be affected, and you can find more information about the end of LIBOR on our website here.

The end of LIBOR means that the reference rate used to set your interest rate has changed or will change later this year. However, we’ll continue to review your interest rate once every three months.
We’ll always write to you before any change in the interest rate that applies to your mortgage or your monthly payment takes effect.

If your interest rate tracks the Bank of England base rate (the Bank Rate), your rate will usually change at the start of the month after the Bank of England announces a change in the Bank Rate.

If your interest rate and monthly payment are about to change, you can find details of your new rate and payment amount in Self-Serve.

Sign in now – if you’ve already registered on Self-Serve, you can sign in to your account at any time.

Register now – to use Self-Serve for the first time, you’ll need to register and create your secure account.

Not all customers can register for Self-Serve. You can see more details on our using Self-Serve page.

The most recent change in the Bank Rate to its current 5.00% was announced on 1 August 2024. We’ve written to you to confirm your new rate and payment amount that will apply from 1 September 2024. That rate will continue to apply until after any further change to the Bank Rate is announced.

We set our SVR in response to trends in the UK mortgage market. Our SVR isn’t directly linked to any external reference rate, this means that it doesn’t automatically change if for example, the Bank of England changes Base Rate.

We’ve reduced our SVR by 0.25% to 7.11%, taking effect on 1 September 2024.

We’ve written to you to confirm your new rate and monthly payment. Your new rate will continue to apply until we announce any further changes to our SVR.

You can see your current interest rate, monthly payment amount and details of future changes by signing in to Self-Serve. After we’ve applied an SVR change to your account there’ll be a message about your new interest rate, monthly payment amount and the date when this will apply on the account summary screen. Find out more here

If your mortgage has a fixed interest rate that rate will continue to apply until any expiry date detailed in your original mortgage offer.

If that fixed rate comes to an end and a variable rate will apply after the expiry date, we’ll write to you a month in advance of the change in rate to let you know your new rate and payment amount.

Unfortunately, we’re closed to new business and unable to offer any new deals to customers.

There’s more information about remortgaging with another lender on our Find a better mortgage deal page.

Unfortunately, we can’t freeze your interest rate. However, there may be options available to you if you’re struggling to afford your monthly payments.

If you’re worried about making your payments, please take a look at the information about how we may be able to help on our Payment difficulties page. Simply getting in touch with us won’t affect your credit file.

Your monthly payment is calculated based on your outstanding balance and the remaining term of your mortgage, at the point when a new interest rate is set.

The payment will vary according to the repayment basis of your mortgage.

If you have a capital and interest (repayment mortgage), your monthly payments cover the interest charged each month and also pay off some of the balance that you owe. This means that providing you make your monthly payments in full and on time, your mortgage will be fully repaid at the end of its term.

If you have an interest only mortgage, your monthly payments only cover the interest charged on the balance you owe. Your payments don’t reduce the total amount you owe over time, so when your mortgage reaches the end of its term, you’ll need to repay this to us as a lump sum.

If you have a part & part mortgage, a set portion of your mortgage is on a repayment basis and another set portion is on interest only. Here, your monthly payments will cover the interest charged on the whole amount you owe, but you’ll also be repaying part of that total balance each month. So unlike a full repayment mortgage, this means there will still be a lump sum to pay at the end of the mortgage term.

Find out what type of mortgage you have

It’s important you’re fully aware of the type of mortgage you have, so you can plan ahead. If you’re unsure, you can easily find this information using Self-Serve, our secure online mortgage service, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. See our website section about finding your account information.

You can also see your latest mortgage statement or check your latest mortgage offer documents. Alternatively, if you need further support, please contact us.

The impact of an interest rate change on your monthly payments will depend on several factors, such as the type of mortgage you have (interest only, capital and interest or part & part), your current balance and remaining term.

There are also other factors that can affect the recalculation of your monthly payment, for example if you have:

• made regular overpayments on your account;
• incurred any fees or charges that have been added to your balance;
• taken a payment holiday;
• not paid ground rent/service charges and we’ve paid these on your behalf;
• missed any payments or made reduced payments for any reason.

The impact of these factors on the recalculation of your monthly payment following a rate change may be greater if you only have a short remaining term.

Because of this, the exact change in your monthly payments following a rate change may be different to what you expect.

If you’re worried about making your monthly mortgage payments now or in the future there’s more information about how we may be able to help you on our Payment Difficulties page.

There’s also details of independent organisations that can help by offering you free support and advice. Simply contacting us, or any of those organisations won’t affect your credit score.

You can also find out about using PayPlan’s BudgetSmart tool to look at what you may be struggling to afford and use the tools and tips provided to help you cut costs. It has information and tips covering car and home insurance, food, clothes and shoes, utility bills and much more.

If you’re paying an extra amount on top of your normal monthly payment as part of an agreement to clear or reduce your arrears, it’s important to continue paying that extra amount. But if you’re struggling to keep up the arrangement we’ll need to reassess your situation.

There’s more information on our Payment difficulties page about how you can start that process by going online to provide us with updated income and expenditure details. You can also call us. You may find it useful to have your bank statements, wage slips and utility bills to hand.

When you’re making regular monthly overpayments, it’s a good idea to check you’re happy with the amount you’re overpaying after an interest rate change. Depending upon how your overpayment is set up and whether your normal monthly payment has gone up or down, you may want to check and adjust the amount you’re overpaying. There’s more information about making regular monthly overpayments on our Overpayments page.

If you make your monthly payments by Direct Debit you don’t need to take any action, we’ll collect the new payment amount when this is due.

If you don’t pay by Direct Debit, you’ll need to adjust the amount you pay. There’s more information about alternative payment methods on our Making your monthly payments page.

There’s more information about interest rate types on our Your interest rate page.

You can quickly find current interest rate and monthly payment amount using our online Self-Serve system. This is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any device.

What’s more, If your interest rate and monthly payment are due to change at the start of the next month, or the following month, you’ll find details of your new rate, payment amount and the date when this will apply in Self-Serve.

This information will usually be available the day after a rate change has been announced. Sometimes it can take slightly longer, so if it’s not there, please check back later.

If your new rate and payment isn’t showing in Self-Serve, we won’t be able to confirm this to you if you call us.

Sign in now – if you’ve already registered on Self-Serve, you can sign in to your account at any time.

Register now – to use Self-Serve for the first time, you’ll need to register and create your secure account.