Nationwide retracts mortgage promise

The UK’s biggest building society, the Nationwide no longer promises new borrowers that it will peg its variable rate mortgages to the Bank of England base rate. Existing customers on the variable rate home loan are guaranteed to pay no more than 2 per cent above the bank’s rate, but new customers will move to a new product that is currently charging nearly 1.5 per cent more when their introductory deal ends. Nationwide said that the change will allow it more flexibility over its new mortgages and allow it to provide better deals for savers.