UK lawmaker highlights BoI mortgage rate increase fears

British lawmaker Andrew Tyrie has said Britain’s finance regulator must ensure customers are being treated fairly as a result of Bank of Ireland raising interest rates for some mortgages.

Mr Tyrie wrote to Martin Wheatley, the UK’s chief conduct regulator, asking for details on how the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is dealing with the increase, according to the correspondence which was made public by the lawmaker.

In Wheatley’s response, he said the mortgages covered by the change pre-date the FSA’s 2004 regulation of the so-called tracker mortgages, and that he didn’t believe the terms of the loans that track a government base rate were unfair.