Martin Lewis' MSE issues word of warning to Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, TSB customers

Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert has issued a warning to Barclays, HSBC UK, Nationwide and TSB customers. The BBC Sounds and ITV regular Mr Lewis' team has spoken out over the base rate cut, from the Bank of England, which took place last week.

MSE said: "Since the base rate was last cut in August, savings rates have fallen across the board. This latest cut means that they're set to continue to decrease, with 4.7% to 4.9% likely to be the benchmark in the next few weeks. We contacted all major providers to ask them what they're doing in response to the base rate cut. So far, two providers have confirmed cuts:

"Chase will cut the rate on its standard linked saver from 3.75% to 3.5% from Thursday 14 November. Co-op Bank will cut the rate on six of its variable savings accounts by 0.07 percentage points from 22 January 2025, while the rate on its 'Base Rate Tracker' account will decrease by 0.25 percentage points from 14 November 2024.

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"Many others, including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide and TSB, told us they'd be reviewing their rates – meaning they'll likely follow." Santander, TSB, HSBC, Virgin Money and Nationwide Building Society have all announced prices across their fixed rate mortgage deals will rise this week.

Last week, Nationwide, TSB and Santander were among a number of lenders to announce they were cutting mortgage rates across tracker and variable rate deals, in response to the Bank of England cutting base rate from 5 per cent to 4.75 per cent, on Thursday.

Around 82 per cent of mortgaged households are on fixed rate mortgages, according to UK Finance. That equates to almost 7 million homes. The hikes to rates may seem counterintuitive given the Bank of England's recent decision to lower the base rate to 4.75 per cent - the second reduction this year.