Northern Rock - Not passing on full cut

mick_1967

I see they only passed on 0.5% following the decision last week - Boo!

opinions4u

There is something ironic and amusing about the Government not passing on their own interest rate cut.

Good news for savers!

TobyPro4

Where did you hear about this?

I rang Northern Rock yesterday afternoon and they said a decision was going to be made on Monday 15th Dec regards the recent rate cut?

lisyloo

There is something ironic and amusing about the Government not passing on their own interest rate cut.

Why?
The gubmint have insisted that NR pay back the tax payer loan quite quickly which from a tax payer point of view is quite justified, so NR have to charge rates conversant with that objective.
They passed on the full cut last time, so nobody should be crippled right now, people should be down 2% on what they were paying before, so it should be affordable.

Oh and BTW - if you want a BOE tracker then GET ONE.
Don't get an SVR rate or SVR tracker and then come and whinge cos you got something you didn't in fact want after all.

TobyPro4

"Why?"

Because if the government are vocal in their wish for lenders to pass on the full cut, it doesn't look very good if they aren't, in effect, leading by example.

lisyloo

Because if the government are vocal in their wish for lenders to pass on the full cut, it doesn't look very good if they aren't, in effect, leading by example.

Yes I understand you point.
However the governement also have objectives for
1) Taxpayers loans to be paid back
2) Banks to be run on a comercial footing.

People who are screaming foul and saying the banks are just "greedy" have often not fully explored the issues.
I think the gubmint are making themselves look as though they are on the side of the opulus agasint the "greedy banks" for popularity purposes, but have also given the banks a challenge to pay back the tax payers money (with some justification).

I don't claim to fully understand it and I don't claim the banks are faultless either in fact they got us into this mess.
But saying they are jsut slow and greedy is a massive oversimplification IMO.

pinkflipflops

TobyPro4 wrote: »

Where did you hear about this?

I rang Northern Rock yesterday afternoon and they said a decision was going to be made on Monday 15th Dec regards the recent rate cut?

It's on there website.

http://companyinfo.northernrock.co.uk/corporateCommunications/news/article.asp?newsID=220

It says on there that the tracker rate will be passed on as per our T&C's. I cannot find anywhere in my T&C's about how long NR have to pass on this cut. It seems to take them 2 months, whereas when the rate was going up they passed it on straight away.

Has anyone else found this in there own T&C's??

RobertoMoir

mick_1967 wrote: »

I see they only passed on 0.5% following the decision last week - Boo!

Or if you're one of the millions of taxpayers whose tax got paid into NR to bail out the mistakes of others without being asked, then Hooray for the quicker repayment of our money.

I'm not saying that to have a go, just pointing out that this coin has another side.

TobyPro4

Well to be fair Lisylooa, I haven't called Northern Rock greedy.

I appreciate the taxpayer needs to be paid back as soon as possible but in this case but for me, the government being seen to do as they're expecting (or virtually ordering) other lenders to do is the more important factor.

The government can't expect banks to do as they say regards passing on cuts and then turn round and say "well, actually, it doesn't apply to Northern Rock as they owe us/taxpayers money"

I'm not calling NR or any other bank greedy, I'm just saying the government should lead by example is rate cuts is what they're insisting on.

opinions4u

lisyloo wrote: »

Why?
Because it is do as I say and not as I do time. Hypocritical politicians are not my favourite people.

The gubmint have insisted that NR pay back the tax payer loan quite quickly which from a tax payer point of view is quite justified, so NR have to charge rates conversant with that objective.
Quite agree and refer you to my response above. Makes you wonder why they were paying silly savings rates in September when certain other banks were on the verge of collapse though.

They passed on the full cut last time, so nobody should be crippled right now, people should be down 2% on what they were paying before, so it should be affordable.
I didn't imply anything different.

Oh and BTW - if you want a BOE tracker then GET ONE.
Got one. And also have savings in a 6.5% fixed account that could clear it. This is a good time!!

Don't get an SVR rate or SVR tracker and then come and whinge cos you got something you didn't in fact want after all.
I honestly didn't whinge. I was merely drawing attention to our hypocritical politicians who are no better than tabloid headline writers in their understanding of why a strong banking system is actually good for the nation.

I really don't think I merited that sort of response, but hey, I'll cope.

TobyPro4

RobertoMoir wrote: »

Or if you're one of the millions of taxpayers whose tax got paid into NR to bail out the mistakes of others without being asked, then Hooray for the quicker repayment of our money.

I'm not saying that to have a go, just pointing out that this coin has another side.

Sorry but I have to ask. Does that mean if you had your mortgage with Northern Rock you'd be ringing them up and asking them not to apply any more rate cuts to your mortgage so they can pay their government debt off quicker?