Skipton Building Society has confirmed it will only increase its standard variable rate by 25 basis points, despite the Bank of England announcing a 50 basis point increase in the base rate today.

This decision, made ahead of the BoE announcement, comes after Skipton declined to pass on last month’s rate rise to its mortgage borrowers.

Like many lenders Skipton effectively has two ‘revert to’ rates. Its Mortgage Variable Rate (MVR), which relates to all products applied for from 2010 will now stand at 6.79%.

The building society said it also wanted to raise awareness of the the support and help it offered to homeowners who were struggling to meet repayments in the face of 13 consecutive rises to interest rates.

Skipton Building Society CEO of home financing Charlotte Harrison says: “As a lender we have actively managed our MVR/SVR rates to maintain one of the lowest rates in the market.”

Harrison said that after previously holding back more than 50% of base rate increases, the mutual would pass on just half of today’s base rate rise.  She adds: “We commit to maintaining our approach to protect borrowers from further rate hikes.”