Only a handful of lenders have passed on the full 0.5 per cent interest base rate cut so far to mortgage customers, but those that have are now offering very attractive rates, experts say.

According to research from Moneyfacts.co.uk, a week after the historic interest rate cut, Nationwide/Derbyshire/Cheshire Building Society, Lloyds TSB/Cheltenham & Gloucester, HSBC, Mortgage Express, Intelligent Finance, Bristol & West and Skipton have all announced their intention to lower the standard variable rate (SVR) on their mortgages by 0.5 per cent.

Manchester Building Society has gone one better and cut its rate by 0.66 per cent – but this only brings the current SVR down to 5.29 per cent.

Lloyds TSB, which also operates the Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) brand, has promised to cut its SVR in line with the Bank of England ahead of each base rate change, while HSBC has said it will use the falling base rate to expand its market share this year and has been consistently lowering its SVR in line with the central Bank.

Nationwide, which also now owns the Cheshire and Derbyshire building societies, has promised its SVR will never be more than two per cent above the base rate, while Skipton’s SVR will not rise more than three per cent above the base rate.

This means that several high street banks are now offering very low rates of interest on their SVR – in many cases beating their older fixed rates.

Given that the base rate may fall further in the coming rates, sticking with the SVR could be the best option, Louise Bond, personal finance manager at uSwitch.com, suggests.

“People coming to the end of their existing deal should seriously consider defaulting to their provider’s SVR as this could be more cost effective than paying hefty fees for what could be a more costly option,” Ms Bond said.

HSBC’s SVR falls to 3.94 per cent on February 6th – the lowest it has ever been – while Lloyds TSB, C&G, Nationwide, Intelligent Finance Derbyshire and Cheshire are all taking their rates down to 3.5 per cent.

Although fixed rates are also coming down – HSBC has launched a new deal at just 2.99 per cent – these are often only available to those with significant deposits.

David Black, principal consultant of banking at Defaqto, added: “The recent turmoil in the financial markets has meant that standard variable rates have taken on a much greater significance than in previous years as the availability of attractive remortgage deals for many borrowers has been in short supply.

“This is particularly the case for those with high loan-to-values as the best new deals tend to be restricted to those seeking mortgages for no more than 60 per cent loan-to-value.”

Fairinvestment.co.uk’s chartered financial planner, Sharon Bratley, said: “For the 52 per cent of Brits on a fixed rate mortgage at the moment, the Bank of England’s base rate cuts will not mean much. In fact they could even mean that these people suffer as a result of falling savings account rates.

“Having said that, lenders are also beginning to reduce the rates on new fixed rate mortgage rates, so for people who prefer the security attached to a fixed rate, it is certainly worth shopping around and comparing a number of deals when one deal comes to an end.”

Not all lenders are cutting their rates this low, however. Despite their part-nationalised status, HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock have only cut their rates by 0.25 per cent.

Most other lenders are still reviewing their SVR, although those customers on tracker deals will see their payments come down in line with their contract from the start of February.