Mortgage and savings rates rise

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Mortgage and savings rates have started to go up in the wake of the Bank of England's latest increase in the cost of borrowing.

On Thursday, the Bank put up interest rates for the fifth time since last summer, from 5.5% to 5.75%.

A number of smaller lenders have added 0.25% to their standard variable mortgage rates.

Some current account providers have also raised their savings rates by 0.25%, but mainly on selected accounts.

Lisa Taylor of the financial information service Moneyfacts said it would be a month before all the banks, building societies and other financial institutions had made their decisions.

"The biggest ones will move in the next couple of weeks - they have got to have some board meetings and make high-level decisions," she said.

"They may also use it as an opportunity to revise their savings range - which makes it a bit more complicated," she added.

As an example, she cited the Bank of Ireland, which pulled its entire fixed-rate mortgage range yesterday.

Selected accounts

The first group of mortgage deals that will become more expensive are the tracker mortgages, which are explicitly linked to movements in the Bank of England's rate.

So far, 12 lenders have announced increases to their standard variable mortgage rates or to particular deals.

Among them are the Portman building society - soon to be merged with the Nationwide - as well as the internet bank Egg, RBS and Tesco Mortgages.

Some big names among current account providers have also put up their savings rates by the full 0.25%, including the Halifax, Lloyds TSB and Northern Rock.

However, like most of the 16 institutions that have announced changes so far, these increased rates have been applied only to selected accounts.