People ‘financially worse off’ due to interest rate

Individuals believe themselves to be in a worse financial situation now that the interest rate is 0.5 per cent.

This is the finding of a street poll conducted by Adfero in Sheffield, in which 56 per cent of those questioned believed this to be the case.

Of the others that were quizzed, 40 per cent felt unaffected by the rate, while four per cent claimed to have no opinion on the matter either way.

The survey found paying back money related to property assets to be the area most affected.

Graham Jackson, 54, said: “It makes a big difference to my mortgage repayments … I really have noticed it.”

Kathryn Painter, 29, revealed that she is sure she would be aware of the difference when “doing something like paying a mortgage”.

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee voted on April 8th 2010 to maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5 per cent, after a previous reduction of 0.5 percentage points on March 5th 2009.

By Joe Shervin