Heliodor Mortgages and Landmark Mortgages have confirmed 0.50 per cent reductions will be made to variable mortgage interest rates to provide relief to some members of the UK Mortgage Prisoners campaign group.
Rachel Neale, lead campaigner of the UK Mortgage Prisoners, spoke to both lenders to ask if they would be reducing rates after the Bank of England made an emergency cut to the base rate from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent.
Helidor confirmed to Mortgage Solutions that all mortgages held with its parent company Topaz Finance will benefit from the reduction, including its Melanite, Rosolite and Siberite brands.
A spokesperson for Landmark Mortgages also confirmed the lender would make reductions to its standard variable rate.
Both reductions will come into effect from 1 April 2020.
Call for intervention
In an open letter, Neale urged lenders to make changes to rates regardless of whether they are legally obliged to or not.
Neale also called on the Financial Conduct Authority, the government, the Bank of England and supporting All Party Parliamentary Groups to step in and stop mortgage prisoners from being “financially exploited” for a second time.
She will also be writing to Mortgage Agency Service and Tulip to find out whether there are plans to reduce rates.
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
