December 2022 Bank of England Rate Rises: Member Update

In December 2022, the Bank of England announced its ninth increase to the bank rate in twelve months, taking the base rate from 3.00% to 3.50%.

Changes to the Bank Rate affects both savers and borrowers with variable rate and tracker products. We will always act to balance these changes for the benefit and protection of our members and the Society.

Following the Bank of England’s December announcement we acted swiftly to pass on the benefits of the latest bank rate increases to members holding variable rate saving products, including community and charity accounts, effective from 12th January 2022.

The decision regarding our Standard Variable Rate (SVR) remained under review to delay passing on any increases to our borrowers.

Following careful consideration, we have now taken the difficult decision to increase our SVR on mortgage accounts from Wednesday 1st March 2023.

These changes are in line with our General Terms and Conditions for Mortgage Accounts, and we will be writing to affected account holders to give notice.

We appreciate these are challenging times for members, colleagues and our communities and would like to remind anyone who is struggling to meet their mortgage payments to speak to their lender as soon as possible.

Additionally, you can find a list of useful contacts and organisations on our website at www.monbs.com/financialsupport

Please remember, if you hold a fixed rate mortgage your rate is fixed for the term of that product.

Reflection from our Chief Customer Officer, Eve Wilkins

 “Passing on interest rate rises to borrowers is a difficult decision to make, especially when so many of our members are facing a challenging economic climate.

“We recognise how the continued cost of living crisis affects our members. As a mutual organisation, we have to be considerate of the impact continued rate rises will have on our members, both savers and borrowers, as well as on our ability to remain a sustainable business.

“We’ve acted to protect members from the volume of increases throughout 2022, where the Bank Rate increased 9 times and the Society increased its SVR only 4 times in the same period.

With further increases to the Bank Rate expected Thursday 2nd February, we will continue to review the impact of the Bank of England’s actions and work to balance the interests of all our members.

“I am proud that the Society remains committed to protect members in delaying increases to the standard variable rate and to passing on increases to savers so swiftly and we will work to continue to hold this position.”