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| Banks in loans "dodge" |
Banks are exploiting a loophole to DUCK OUT of their promises to increase mortgage lending, experts warned last night.
In return for billions of pounds of taxpayers' cash, Lloyds/TSB and HBOS pledged to increase lending to 2007 levels.
But buried in the small print the contract says they do not have to lend to the "non-conforming market" - meaning anyone who is high risk, self-employed or wants a buy-to-let mortgage.
Vicky Redwood, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "It's crucial for banks to start lending again to give businesses the funds they need to survive and households the money to keep spending.
"The government have left a dangerous loophole. The banks don't have to lend to the very people having the most trouble refinancing."
Big lenders won praise for passing on the 1.5 per cent cut in base rate to mortgage customers, reducing average monthly repayments by £140 according to moneysupermarket.com.
But the banks are also using sneaky tactics to claw back cash from hard-pressed families.
A staggering 33 lenders have WITHDRAWN their tracker mortgages and are expected to relaunch them at higher margins above base rate.
Many fixed-rate savings deal have been pulled.
And banks are also craftil trimming interest paid on savings by MORE than they reduced their mortgage rates.
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