A poll carried out by Ipsos MORI for Intelligent Finance showed 37% of British borrowers admitted they wouldn’t take any notice of the decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) tomorrow, Thursday 7 February 2007. However, the same number said they were fairly worried about the impact of any change. Only 6% said they were extremely worried.

A total of 14% of those surveyed have a product, such as a fixed-rate mortgage, that protects from rate changes. More younger borrowers have chosen this method of repayment – 20% of the 25 to 34 year-old age group, compared to 12% of 45 to 54 year olds.

Cammy Amaira, director of sales at Intelligent Finance, said: “There has been much speculation about the MPC’s next decision, but there are clearly some people who are relaxed given the nature of the products they have.”

The MPC will vote in favour of a 0.25% cut in the Base Rate this week, with a 5-4 split among committee members, Simon Ward, economist at fund management company New Star has predicted.

“The story is that activity indicators are firmly in rate-cutting territory but are being offset by the highest household and business inflation expectations since the MPC’s inception,” he explained.