Banks failing to pass on low rates to consumers - BoE

Since the financial crisis, interest rates on mortgages have fallen by much less than the Bank's base rate - which has remained at 0.5% since March 2009 - says the Bank in its quarterly bulletin. Banks are not only failing to pass on the sharp reduction in base rate but actually charging more, with new lending rates to households increasing in some cases. The spread on an unsecured £10,000 personal loan has surged from four percentage points before the financial crisis to around ten percentage points today. Meanwhile, interest rates on credit cards and new loans have soared. Placin...