Boost for UK borrowers as Santander ‘fires starting gun’ on mortgage price war

Nailer99

Interesting article in the Guardian. 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/feb/11/boost-uk-borrowers-santander-fires-starting-gun-mortgage-price-war?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Hoenir

The article makes no mention of arrangements fees nor the tranche of money that's available for funding. At 60% LTV.  Santander will have a target market in mind. 

Nice free advertising / marketing on behalf of the Guardian. Lenders are far from dumb.

Worth also noting that Santander have been losing market share for some time now. 

LightFlare

Might be a boost for borrowers - but the gun has just been pointed at savers — Again.

ACG

Its capped at 60% LTV which probably rules out 70%+ of the market. It probably also comes with a larger arrangement fee which means its likely only suitable for larger mortgages. Which then probably rules out another 20% of the market. 

The details matter. Its a nice soundbite and gets people talking but for most it wont make any difference. 

Hoenir

With a £2k fee for new borrowers. Makes you wonder if journalists ever bother to calculate the true cost depending on the amount of money borrowed. Not just jump on the headline rate. 

Nailer99

These are all good points. Lloyds already have a product which has a lower rate and lower fee. Still, hopefully there will indeed be more competition in this space, some of the big banks and building societies have very uncompetitive rates at the moment.

Hoenir

Nailer99 said:

These are all good points. Lloyds already have a product which has a lower rate and lower fee. Still, hopefully there will indeed be more competition in this space, some of the big banks and building societies have very uncompetitive rates at the moment.

Going to take a while before people accept this is the new norm. 

Nailer99

Hoenir said:

Going to take a while before people accept this is the new norm. 

I get your point. The new deals seem to have appeared today and they are underwhelming, except for the Santander 2-year which is the lowest 2-year rate for a while.

Alarae

Having secured the cheaper Lloyds rate a couple of weeks ago, I’m surprised that this announcement has such fanfare as it’s both a slightly higher rate and is practically double the product fee. 

I am minded that I don’t see rates moving far from where we are now (3.98% - <60% LTV) but I have been surprised that no other banks have really come close to the Lloyds offering recently. 

Hoenir

Nailer99 said:

Hoenir said:

Going to take a while before people accept this is the new norm. 

I get your point. The new deals seem to have appeared today and they are underwhelming, except for the Santander 2-year which is the lowest 2-year rate for a while.

The sting in the tail is the product fee and a 40% deposit. Ideally suited to those with a big mortgage on an expensive property. Useless for a FTB. 

snowqueen555

Hoenir said:

With a £2k fee for new borrowers. Makes you wonder if journalists ever bother to calculate the true cost depending on the amount of money borrowed. Not just jump on the headline rate. 

I'm pretty sure they don't. The again a lot of posters also don't realise this either.