Bank of England base rate changes
Updated 14 November 2024
The Bank of England base rate decreased from 5.00% to 4.75% on 7 November 2024. For more information on this change, visit the Bank of England website.
What this means for your accounts
Savings
We'll be decreasing the rates on some of our savings accounts on 5 December, find out more about these changes below.
Our variable rate accounts will be decreasing by 0.15% on 5 December 2024. To view our new interest rates, visit the savings product pages.
Once opened, the rate on a fixed rate account doesn't change until the account matures (comes to an end). We regularly review our fixed rate savings range and reserve the right to withdraw and replace the accounts that are available without notice.
Mortgages
We're decreasing our Standard Variable Rate from 7.43% to 7.26% on 1 January 2025, find out more about these changes below.
If you have a fixed rate mortgage, your interest rate is fixed until the end of the initial term. This means that any changes to the Bank of England Base Rate won't affect your rate.
The recent change to the Bank of England base rate means your monthly payments won't change until the end of your initial term.
If you have a discount mortgage, your interest rate is our standard variable rate (SVR) minus a fixed percentage for the initial term. This means if our SVR changes, your monthly payments do too unless the SVR decreases below the floor rate set in your mortgage agreement.
Our discount products have a floor rate which means your mortgage's interest rate won't go below the floor rate set when you took out your mortgage.
Any changes to the Bank of England base rate won't directly affect your rate.
As a result of the Bank of England base rate changes, we made the decision to decrease our SVR on 1 January 2025 and your monthly payments may go down. We'll send you a letter to detail your new monthly payment and any action you'll need to take.
If you have a tracker mortgage, your interest rate is variable and it 'tracks' the Bank of England base rate until the end of the term. This means that any changes to the Bank of England base rate will effect your rate unless it decreases below the floor rate set in your mortgage agreement.
Our tracker mortgages have a floor rate which means your mortgage's interest rate won't go below the floor rate set when you took out your mortgage.
The recent changes to the Bank of England base rate means your monthly payments will decrease on 1 December 2024. We'll send you a letter to detail your new monthly payment and any action you will need to take.
The recent change to the Bank of England base rate means we'll be decreasing our SVR from 7.43% to 7.26% on 1 January 2025.
If you have a mortgage on our Standard Variable Rate (SVR), your interest rate is the same as our SVR. This means your monthly payment will decrease on 1 January 2025.
If your monthly payment changes as a result of a change to our SVR, we'll write to you with details of your new monthly payment.
Do I need to change my monthly payment?
If you pay by direct debit, we'll automatically collect the new monthly payment on the payment date detailed in your letter.
If you pay your mortgage by standing order, cash or cheque, you'll need to change your monthly payment from the payment date detailed in your letter.
Unfortunately, we cannot change a standing order on your behalf, so you may find it easier to switch to paying by direct debit.
To set up a direct debit to pay your mortgage, simply complete and return the Mortgage Direct Debit Mandate or request a form by contacting us or from your local branch.
View your savings and mortgage accounts
Log in to your online profile to view your Principality accounts.
Frequently asked questions
The Bank of England (BoE) sets and controls the base interest rate for the UK. This is the rate at which it will lend to financial institutions. You’ll hear it called the ‘base rate’ or ‘bank rate.’
If the base rate goes up, banks and building societies rates will usually increase too, because the cost of borrowing has become more expensive.
However, how we set our rates also depends on changes in the market and economic climate. So we may increase or decrease our variable rates (including SVR) outside of changes to the base rate. And when the base rate changes, we won’t necessarily change our own rates.
You can find this information on your last mortgage statement from us. Alternatively, please contact us and we can find this information for you.
If your interest rate is changing and it impacts your monthly repayment, we'll write to you 10 working days before the change takes effect.
You can also register for an online profile to keep track of your interest rate, and any savings accounts you have with us.
If we decrease the interest rate on your savings account, and you have £100 or more in the account, you'll receive a personal notification 14 days before your rate changes. We'll also publish the information in your local branch and on our website.
If we increase the interest rate on your savings account, we'll publish this information within 3 working days of the change in your local branch and on our website.
You can also register for an online profile to keep track of your interest rate, and any mortgages you have with us.
If you would like further information on your mortgage or savings account please contact us.