Five-year fix rises

LLOYDS Bank has withdrawn its 7.99 per cent five- year fix. The bank's new five- year rate is 8.39 per cent. Lloyds also has 10-year loans at 9.39 per cent, and 15, 20 and 25 years at at 9.99 per cent. The two-year rate remains at 6.99 per cent.

Abbey National has increased the cost of its fixed rates by more than 0.5 percentage points. It has two rates - one for home buyers and another for remortgages. The four-year rate increases from 7.55 to 8.2 per cent for buyers and from 8.4 to 9 per cent for remortgages.

The Mortgage Business, the Bank of Scotland's lending arm based in Chester, has a fix until March 2000 at 8.25 per cent with no compulsory insurances.