TWO of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders announced yesterday they are increasing their rates for new customers.

Jun 7 2008 by Chris Mellor, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Bradford & Bingley hiked the interest charged on a range of its deals by up to 0.55% yesterday.

Abbey is increasing some of its rates by up to 0.26% from Monday.

The moves follow continued increases in the cost of wholesale funding.

Swap rates, upon which fixed rate mortgages are based, have risen by 0.6% during the past few weeks.