Borrowers ‘let down by base rate decision’

Borrowers across Britain have been let down by the Bank of England’s decision to maintain the base rate of interest at five per cent, it has been claimed.

Price comparison firm Fool.co.uk has suggested that the bank’s choice to hold fire on interest rates will have come as a blow to more than 30 million people in the UK.

And with so many households struggling to become debt free, the fact that previous base rate cuts have not been fully passed on by lenders is another cause for consumer concern, the company insists.

“The Bank of England may be happy to sit on its hands, but homeowners must not do the same. Make yourself a cash-cushion now,” said David Kuo, head of personal finance at money website Fool.co.uk.

“It’s the most comfortable thing to sit on in a recession and it beats sitting on your hands any day.”

A report from Ernst & Young last week suggested that the typical individual in the UK is almost 15 per cent worse off financially now than was the case five years ago.

By Giles Stevenson