Borrowers who are banking on a judicial Fifth Cavalry riding to the rescue may have to think again, if a recent decision of the new Court of Appeal is anything to go by.

The rejection of a couple’s complaint that a bank breached a loan contract by increasing the variable rate on their mortgages was a correct decision, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The Financial Services Ombudsman must reconsider a couple’s complaint that Danske Bank was not entitled to increase to 4% the variable interest rate on their mortgages at the same time the ECB interest rate was falling to almost zero, following a High Court ruling.

The Financial Services Ombudsman has been told by the High Court to look again at Danske Bank’s decision to hike its variable interest mortgage rates to more than 4% when ECB rates had plunged to almost zero.

The High Court has asked the Financial Services Ombudsman if a bank is allowed to increase mortgage interest rates at times when the rates set by the European Central Bank are historically low.