03 August 06 interest rate increase
Today's ECB interest rate increase of 0.25%, which follows increases in December 2005, March and June 2006, means that the ECB rate has now risen by 1% since November 2005. The Financial Regulator's Head of Consumer Information, Sharon Donnery said, "Many people will now start to feel the effect of these interest rate rises. If you have a relatively small mortgage, a 0.25% increase on its own may not mean that you need to dramatically adjust your household budget. But the combined effect of four interest rate increases will add considerably to mortgage repayments. At the same time, savers may benefit with the increase by making more on money that is on deposit." If the full rate increase announced today is passed on to mortgage customers, it would add about €30 a month on a €250,000 20-year mortgage. This means a mortgage holder could be paying up to €125 a month more than they were paying last November for this mortgage.