To say the least, it has been an interesting time over the course of the past couple of years or so in the homeowner loan and mortgage markets.

Although the situation seems to be steadily improving at the moment, there has been a distinct lack of available funding for new loans to individuals looking to purchase or remortgage a property. Banks and building societies have increased their interest rates and lowered the maximum loan to value they offer and with the Bank of England base rate of interest remaining at just 0.5 per cent for the past ten months, many borrowers finishing their initial deal on their home owner loan have chosen to remain on their existing lenders standard variable rate loan, rather than look at a more expensive remortgage product.

Although a large number of lenders have reduced their standard variable rate on home owner loans in line with the Bank of England Base rate, thereby passing on the savings to their loan customers, others have hardly altered their base rate at all and in some cases have even recently increased their standard variable rate, leading to a difference in cost of around £5,670 between the most expensive and the cheapest loan.

With a large difference between different lenders standard variable rates, it is almost impossible to say whether a borrower is now on a good rate with their home owner loan. With an increasing number of more attractive loan deals coming onto the market from lenders and the possible prospect of an imminent increase in the Bank of England Base rate having the effect of pushing up standard variable rates, now may be a good time for borrowers to review the rate on their current home owner loan deal and compare it with some of the deals on offer, to see if it worth moving to a new, cheaper loan.