Standard variable rates... once the "punishment" rate you paid if you'd been too flakey to sort yourself out a nice fixed rate mortgage or tracker. But not any more:

Francis Ghiloni, marketing and business development director at mform.co.uk, says: “The lowest SVR deals are currently among the better deals on offer with rates as low as 5% so it is disappointing that new borrowers cannot apply.

So that's easy then. Just move to a new lender and go onto their SVR... no fees, no problem. Not necessarily. Lenders are apparently refusing new borrowers access to an SVR loan, or charging, as bank base rates drift down.

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