Sponsored by
October closure for old Scarborough HQ - COMMENT ON THIS STORY
THE Skipton Building Society has been deemed one of the biggest culprits of interest rate hiking as it prepares to close its Scarborough office.
Homeowners across the country are being warned to brace themselves as financial experts predict a hike in standard variable rates (SVRs) by lenders, despite an unchanged base rate.
The Skipton Building Society, which took over the Scarborough Building Society in March 2009, has been highlighted as one of the worst offenders after putting its SVR up from 3.5 per cent to 4.95 per cent in March.
For someone with an average mortgage of 105,000 and 20 years left to pay, this is equivalent to an extra 81.10 a month or 973.20 a year.
It is an unexpected move as SVRs are traditionally linked to the Bank of England base rate, which has been at 0.5 per cent for the past 18 months.
The news comes as the Skipton prepares to close Prospect House in Eastfield, which was the former headquarters of the Scarborough Building Society.
In April this year 136 workers at the offices were told they will lose their jobs as the site, which is operated by Skipton's mortgage subsidiary HML (Homeloan Management Ltd).
HML said the closing process, which began in June, was due to "fixed costs and under-capacity" at the offices which "didn't represent value for money".
This month 39 members of staff will be losing their jobs, followed by 53 workers next month before the offices close for good on October 31.
The redundancies come despite assurances from the Skipton that a "significant presence" would be retained in the town after it took over the Scarborough Building Society.
Just two months after initial assurances were made, 90 jobs were put at risk leading to the loss of 30 local jobs when the societies merged in March 2009.
In January last year a spokesperson for the Skipton told the Evening News the society had a " long term commitment" to keep open the head of?ce for the "foreseeable future".
Founded in 1846, Scarborough Building Society was the UK's 17th largest building society at the time of its takeover.
In 1939 the society opened its ?rst head of?ce when York House was built in York Place, Scarborough, providing both of?ce accommodation and a full branch. York Place remained in business as a branch until 2006 when Scarborough's main town centre branch was relocated to Westborough. In 2002 it moved from its Scalby Road head-quarters, which had been its home for 22 years, into the new 10 million, 51,000 sq ft building in Scarborough Business Park. The building included hi-tech equipment and training facilities, a restaurant and a gym.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Scarborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North east
