Fixed rate mortgages at Lloyds owned Cheltenham & Gloucester and Halifax to rise

Lloyds Banking Group, under their Cheltenham & Gloucester and Halifax brands, are raising the interest rates on their intermediary fixed rate mortgages.

The majority of the Cheltenham & Gloucester fixed rate mortgages will rise by 0.6% or 0.7%.

For Halifax the rise is between 0.3% and 0.6%.

These rate increases come on the back of the recent announcement by Nationwide that they were raising their fixed rate mortgage rates.

One small piece of good news if you have a 40% deposit, Halifax are cutting their 2 year tracker mortgage deal by 0.2% to 3.59%.

Other main mortgage lenders, including Abbey and Alliance & Leicester (part of Santander) are now expected to follow suit and raise their rates.

The rise in interest rates is as a result of significant increases in 2,3 and 5 year swap rates, used by the mortgage lenders to fund their fixed rate mortgages.

It seems as if it really could be time to look around and get the best mortgage deal.