MSE News: Bank of England base rate held at 0.5% again

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"The Bank today held the base rate at its historic low and decided against pumping more cash into the economy ..."

Read the full story:
Bank of England base rate held at 0.5% again




This thread is not in the 'discuss house prices and economy board' as that is only open to those logged into the forum so anyone coming from the news story may not be able to see it.

runninglea

'surprise surprise' to quote cilla black

Thrugelmir

The MPC pumped an extra £75 billion into the economy through QE last month amid signs the recovery was faltering

Last month the BOE committed to £75 billion of QE over the following 4 months.

tleefox

Hardly a surprise.

guitarman001

Borrowers being bailed out while your savings are being wiped out

wellused

I'm so glad my hard earned savings are being depleted in order to prop up those who borrowed recklessly.

adamg

I have never borrowed nor do I have savings, but i do have a very low morgage thanks

tagq2

I have never borrowed [...] but i do have a [...] morgage

I smoked but I never inhaled. :beer:

consumers_revenge

Wifes never had a car crash but seen hundreds ;-)

MiserlyMartin

This news should read "The Bank of England continues to decimate the value of pensioners retirement savings by keeping interest rates on hold at a historic low of 0.5%"

I'm sick to death of it. Everyone is suffering. People can't go out and spend and the economy recover as their low interest rate policy means inflation is reducing everyones disposable income. Its a double wammy for pensioners they have even less spending income as their interest on savings is virtually nothing.

Trouble is they think the british public are stupid, and frankly a lot of people must be or there would be at lot more fuss about 0.5% interest rates with 5.6% inflation. The MPs keep going on about 'the recovery', well there well be no recovery with this stupid inflation policy of Mervyn and his band of merry men. It should be tackled. The MPs either don't understand finance or they don't care.

henrik1971

Isn't the problem though Martin, that increasing interest rates will not significantly reduce inflation, which is being caused mainly by energy and (to a lesser extent) food price increases.

I'm a significant borrower / minimal saver, and I'm not against rates going up a little as many people are overpaying their mortages at the moment, and could probably 'absorb' a few percent increase in the base rate without it tipping them over the edge. Everyone on both sides needs to see the bigger picture, and mortgage lenders need to reduce their margins back from their historic current high levels.

However, some people will inevitably be forced into insolvency if rates go up, some of whom are !!!!less, and some of whom are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, perhaps been made redundant, etc.

Defaults and repossessions are painful, but how are lessons truly learned unless some consequences are experienced?
A couple of years ago when the mortgage rescue scheme was rolled out to help distressed borrowers, I had mixed feelings about it. However, when I heard they planned to extend the scheme to cover totally irresponsible amateur buy-to-let landlords who had massively over-extended themselves, my disbelief, amazement and anger could not be measured by existing technology.....

Another example of the !!!!less being rescued and saved from themselves by the nanny state where its not politically correct to tell people they were wrong or foolish. Just like all those shareholders years ago wanted the govt to compensate them for falls in the value of their investments. Unbelievable.