Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 29, 2025

How would an interest rate rise affect you?

How would an interest rate rise affect you?

Everyone in the UK will be affected by rising prices - from a higher gas bill, to harder choices during the grocery shop.

The idea of raising interest rates is to keep those current and predicted price rises, measured by the rate of inflation, under control.

Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive. For households, that could mean higher mortgage costs, although - for the vast majority of homeowners - the impact is not immediate, and some will escape it entirely.

Analysts are also warning that the potential benefit of a better return on savings could be muted.

Homeowner impact


Even before any decision is made by the Bank of England's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, there are signs that the era of ultra-low mortgage rates is at an end.

Some lenders have already started to raise rates for those applying for a new home loan.

It has been an extraordinary period of cheap mortgages, and - in the last few months - there have even been good deals for first-time buyers unable to offer much of a deposit.

Brokers are expecting any rises in mortgage rates to be "slow and measured", which would mean mortgages would stay cheap by historical standards for some time.


It is a little-discussed fact that only about a third of adults have a mortgage.

About a third rent their home, another third have either never had a mortgage or have paid it off. Those figures come from the English Housing Survey, which is geographically limited, but one of the most comprehensive guides available.

Some 74% of mortgage holders in the UK are on fixed-rate deals, so would only see a change in their repayments when their current term ends, according to banking trade body UK Finance.

Of the remainder, 850,000 homeowners are on tracker deals, and the other 1.1 million are on standard variable rates (SVRs). They are the people likely to feel an immediate impact were the Bank rate to rise.

If their rates mirrored a Bank rate rise to 0.25% from its current level of 0.1%, then a typical tracker mortgage customer's monthly repayment would go up by £15.45. The typical SVR customer would be paying £9.58 more a month, UK Finance figures show.

If there were a much bigger Bank rate rise to 1%, and lenders raised their rates by the equivalent amount, then the average tracker customer would pay £93 a month more, and the typical SVR customer would pay £57 a month more.

That would be a further squeeze on their household budget at a time when people have been used to years of cheap borrowing and relatively slow-rising prices.

Every mortgage applicant since 2014 would have needed to prove in stress test that they can pay at a rate of about 6% or 7% - the idea being that a small rate rise may be uncomfortable, but not unmanageable, for homeowners.

Katie Brain, from independent analysts Defaqto, says rates "had to start going back up at some point" but reminds anyone looking for a mortgage that any benefits of a low-rate deal could be wiped out if the applicant ignores expensive fees.

Time to save?


A collective sigh of relief would be heard from savers were interest rates to rise, but it could quickly be followed by a sharp intake of breath.

Analysts warn that, even if the Bank rate rises, there is no guarantee of that being reflected in better returns on savings.


Savers are often borrowers too, but the money in the bank has effectively been falling in value for some time.

Anna Bowes, of website Savings Champion, says that rates have been falling in the last year, even though the Bank of England's base rate was unchanged.

People are receiving pennies in interest for every £100 they keep in savings for a year. A Bank rate rise will do little to change that scenario.

The average interest rate for an easy-access account you can open today is 0.14%. For easy-access accounts closed to new customers, it is 0.22%.

The highest paying easy-access account has an interest rate of 0.66%.

Sarah Coles, from investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, says many savers have switched off from paying much attention to their returns.

"When we asked people whether they knew what they were earning on their savings, two in five admitted they had no idea," she says.

"Even those who think they have a handle on their savings may well be off the mark. When we asked people what they were making on their easy access savings, most of them wildly overestimated."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
×