HSBC mortgages found to be best

HSBC has been named the UK's best value variable-rate mortgage lender in 2004 for the second successive year by Moneyfacts.

According to Moneyfacts, HSBC also remains the only high street bank in the country's top ten best value lenders.

Samantha Owens, mortgage research editor at Moneyfacts, said: "Despite increases in the Bank of England base rate pushing the cost of borrowing up last year, HSBC has proved once again that it has the fairest long-term deal on the market.

"Borrowers need to take this into account, even when taking out short-term deals, as they can get caught out by high standard variable rates once the offer rate has finished."

The Moneyfacts survey shows how much interest borrowers paid to the UK's top 35 lenders over the last 12 months.

Based on a typical £100,000 interest-only variable mortgage, it revealed that an HSBC customer would have paid £1,052.46 less in interest than a customer with the UK's largest lender.

The survey also shows that just two of the country's ten largest lenders (HSBC and Nationwide) make it into the top ten lenders for value.

HSBC's top ranking comes hot on the heels of news that market researcher, Defaqto, has also named HSBC as the cheapest mortgage lender in the country in 2004.

According to its survey, a borrower with a £50,000 interest-only mortgage would have been charged £2,638.08 in interest last year - over £580 less than the poorest performer in their study.

Clive Wood, head of personal banking at HSBC, said: "It's a myth that all banks are the same and our continued top value spot for mortgages is another step in our efforts to dispel this."

He added that the survey highlights how important it is to shop around for the best deal.

"Many of us are having to cope with the effects of the festive season on our wallets, yet eight out of ten borrowers seem perfectly happy to throw away hundreds, even thousands of pounds a year by sticking with uncompetitive lenders," he said.