The Bank of England has again cut interest rates to a new record figure. At minus 1.5%, it means that money will, for the first time in banking history, be deducted from savings and investment accounts. Although savers will be adversely affected, the main high street banks welcomed the news. They say it will allow them to recover funds to pay out millions of pounds in outstanding debts to their boards.
Meanwhile, the interest rate change has affected borrowers on base rate mortgages, who will now be owed interest by their mortgage lenders. However, banks have said that rather than pay out inconvenient small monthly payments to what is expected to be several million mortgage holders, they were just going to keep it.
When asked about the ethics and legality surrounding such a move, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said: "This is the big banks we are talking about - I don't understand the question."
