Those homeowners paying a variable rate mortgage need to keep an eye on their monthly repayments because some lenders are increasing their standard variable interest rates (SVR).

For example, Accord which is part of the Yorkshire Building Society has recently increased its SVR by 0.65% to 5.99%. This follows a number of rate increases by the Cambridge, Scottish and Ipswich building societies. Other mortgage lenders are expected to follow suit.

More people are now paying SVR’s after completing their fixed rate deals as the new tracker and fixed rates available are often to expensive. But there can be a big gap between the best and worst SVR’s. The nationwide is currently holding their SVR at 2.5% for existing borrowers although it is 3.99% for new borrowers.

The average SVR over 15 of the largest lenders is 4.8%. This means that a mortgage of £150,000 over 20 years at this average SVR would cost £973.