BANKS and building societies are continuing to hold off in increasing interest rates but most have moved to bring introductory fixed rates for new borrowers in line with higher wholesale interest rates.
Yesterday, the State's biggest building society, First National (FNBS), withdrew its special fixed rates for first time borrowers pending a review of these rates. The society is now expected to offer a new range of introductory fixed rates, adding up to a half of one percentage point on the previous rate. FNBS had been offering to fix mortgage rates for new customers at 5.95 per cent for one year.
Irish Permanent and the EBS have announced higher introductory rates for first time borrowers. All of the financial institutions are expected to raise their main variable interest rates and deposit rates by up to a half of a percentage point shortly.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)