Moneyfacts.co.uk have revealed that many building societies and banks are not passing on Bank of England base rate cuts to their customers by reducing their standard variable rates.

Michelle Slade, analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments "It is now five weeks since the last base rate cut and still 24 lenders (25%) have not announced their intentions with regards to their standard variable rate (SVR). Of those lenders that have done so, 20 (28%) have announced a cut of less than 0.25%. Even more disappointingly is the fact that those lenders which have passed on the smallest cuts offer some of the highest SVR rates.

Surprisingly, the majority of lenders who have not passed on base rate are building societies who are not as exposed to the funding problems faced by the larger banks.

Slade went on to name and shame guilty building societies: "Two lenders, Catholic BS and Chorley & District BS, did not pass on the February cut and so far have not announced that they will be passing on the April cut. Chorley & District BS has the most products linked to SVR in the market, so both new and existing customers are being penalised."

As many readers will be aware, it is not only headline rates which have suffered over the past 6 months, but also lending criteria. Ms Slade continues,

"More and more lenders are now requiring a bigger deposit than ever before. Just prior to the credit crunch in August 2007, 47% of deals required a deposit of 5% or less. Today only 12% of the deals on the market will accept deposit that small. 53% of the market now requires a deposit of more than 10%, compared with 27% in August 2007. This is most concerning for first time buyers or anyone with limited equity in their home."