Homeowners 'Must Prepare Now For an Interest Rate Rise'

Borrowers must prepare now for a rise in interest rates, a charity says, with over a million homeowners never having experienced a Bank rate increase. Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, said that a rise in the Bank Rate was "drawing closer". The Money Advice Trust said this offered only a "short window" for people to organise their finances. More than a million mortgage holders have only ever owned a home when rates were falling or frozen at 0.5%. The last rise in the UK Bank Rate was an increase to 5.75% in July 2007. About 1.8 million homeowners have taken out a mortgage for a new home since then although some would have owned previously then left the market. Read more on the BBC website.