Hinckley & Rugby Building Society is one of the first of the smaller mutuals to access the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS), enabling it to lower mortgage rates.
The society has draw down £5 million in its first tranche after approval from the Bank of England and regulators. The money has immediately been put to use with a series of innovations in its mortgage range.
Its two year discount mortgage interest rate has been cut down from 2.89 per cent to 2.65 per cent. Also down is the rate on the two year fixed rate to 2.75 per cent, cut from 2.99 per cent.
Both mortgages are available at up to 80 per cent LTV, with an application fee of £295 and completion fee of £695. The overall cost for comparison for both is 5.1 per cent APR.
The society’s existing fee-free mortgage sees its maximum LTV increased from 75 per cent to 80 per cent.
And there’s a brand new buy-to-let mortgage at up to 60 per cent LTV – a two year discount at 2.74 per cent. The application fee is £250 and completion fee £2,249. The overall cost for comparison is 5.1 per cent APR
Hinckley & Rugby chief executive Chris White said: “For us the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme is now active and doing what it was intended to do – enabling us to offer more attractive interest rates to homebuyers. The show is very much on the road.
“At the turn of the year we expanded our mortgage team to target significant growth this year, partly because we knew the FLS funding would be coming, and we are on track to achieve that. Now we can press ahead and make maximum use of the FLS money.”