£1.6BN LOSS FOR HOME OWNERS

Three quarters of homeowners are set to miss out on savings of almost £1.6billion a year.

A uSwitch.com study reveals lenders fail to contact borrowers when fixed rate mortgage deals end.

So people end up paying way over the odds as they get automatically moved onto expensive standard variable rates which can be as high as 5% - 4% higher than the current cheapest fixed rate deal available.

Tashema Jackson, money expert at uSwitch.com, said: “Unlike many other financial service providers, mortgage lenders are not obliged to contact their customers before their deal ends. This needs to change urgently as homeowners have a right to know how dramatically their financial situation could be affected if they don’t move to another fixed rate deal.”