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Bank of England holds rates at record low

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
04/02/2016

The Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England voted to keep the Base Rate on hold during February

Interest rates have been held again at their record low in February, for the 83rd consecutive month.

The unanimous decision, by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), is good news for mortgage borrowers as it means that those on a variable rate mortgage are unlikely to see any imminent hikes in their repayments.

Experts now believe that we won’t see any increase in Base Rate until the end of this year or even 2017.

Jody Baker, head of money at comparethemarket.com said: “Now that the only member of the MPC who previously voted for an interest rate rise has switched camps, it seems the availability of historically low rate mortgages and comparatively cheap credit that has been available for the past seven years may be here for longer than originally expected.

“While a rise in interest rates was perceived to already be some way away, this unanimous decision by the MPC indicates that the UK is likely to benefit from this ultra-low interest rate environment for the foreseeable future. This can only be considered good news for consumers, particularly those looking to get on the housing ladder and mortgage holders who now have a longer period of time to lock into fixed rates.”