Uni’s Blog

High street lender HSBC has reported a massive hike in mortgage lending levels after a recent mortgage offer really took off. The bank launched its Rate Matcher mortgage some weeks ago, which promised to match the interest rate of eligible customers that were due to come off cheap fixed rate deal subject to terms and conditions, and the offer proved very popular, sending its mortgage loans lending levels soaring the four time the normal level for that month.

The Rate Matcher was launched in mid-April and HSBC officials state that since then it has been averaging around £100 million in mortgage sales daily, which was four times the usual level. In the last month the bank’s gross lending came to more than £2.5 billion, and there are estimates that it may have secured a 12% share in the mortgage market as a result of the recently launched deal.

Previously the lender had only a 3.6% share in the mortgage market but decided to launch the offer in order to fill a gap in the market, where many borrowers were due to come off cheap fixed secured loan deals but had no way of securing another cheap deal due to tighter lending conditions and rising interest rates from other lenders. The offer was only on for five weeks originally, but due to its popularity the bank has decided to extend for a further six weeks.

When the bank originally launched the offer many officials predicted that it would prove very popular amongst consumers that were due to come off cheap fixed rate deals and were worried about getting another affordable interest rate.