Gen H has cut rates on two-year fixed-rate residential loans on 60%, 70% and 75% loan-to-value bands as well as a reduction on the stress rate it applies to customer affordability tests.   

The fintech lender says its new two-year rates have fallen by 8 basis points to 5.42%, with a £999 fee, and 5.75%, with no fee.  

Last week, it said Legal & General had acquired an 18.75% stake in the business, taking a seat on the board alongside Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital and Brent Hoberman’s Firstminute Capital.   

The rate cut also comes after the BoE lifted the base rate by 75 basis points to 3% last week, the biggest rise since 1989 and the eighth time the bank has hiked rates since December. In November, the base rate was just 0.1%.    

The move follows moves by new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who last month reversed the vast majority of tax cuts announced in September’s mini-budget, although the stamp duty cut for house purchases remains.                       

The mini-budget led to more than a thousand products being pulled as lenders worked out how to reprice loans as the cost of debt for the government and companies lifted on international money markets, following former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting fiscal event.      

The lender says: “The reduction in stress rate reflects the moderation in interest rate expectations in recent weeks and will provide an affordability boost for many aspiring homebuyers and remortgagers.”  

Gen H commercial director Pete Dockar adds: “At a time when mortgage costs are rising for many, we are proud to once again lower our two-year fixed rates. Affordability is top of homeowners’ minds and we are doing all we can to keep their mortgage payments as low as possible.”