What Is The Bank of England Base Rate?

This is the rate that the Bank of England charges us to borrow money. Each month the Bank of England decides whether to change it based on economic factors.

It has a direct impact on how much it costs us to lend money, so we want to make sure you can clearly see how changes to it affect your interest rates.

If you’d like to know more about the Base Rate, go to the Bank of England website.

Your statement shows your standard and cash interest rates as simple rates, with a compound equivalent next to them. The simple rates move in line with the Base Rate – so when the Base Rate changes, your simple rate will change by exactly the same amount. 

See how simple and compound interest works.

The Bank of England Base Rate is currently 4.5%.

We’ll leave a message for you on your monthly statement after a change has happened. It’ll show you how much the Base Rate has changed by and what your new standard and cash interest rates will be.

We’ll apply a Base Rate change to your interest rates the day after the statement message notifying you of a base rate change.

If you don’t use your card very often, we’ll tell you about changes by SMS or email after you’ve started using it again. Find out how to update your contact details.

Let’s say the Bank of England Base Rate goes up by 0.25%. You’ll then pay an extra 21p a month more in interest for every £1,000 of your balance – this doesn’t include your promotional balances as these aren’t affected by Base Rate changes.

Try our Interest calculator. You’ll be able to see how changes to the Base Rate affect your minimum payments and interest rates. Just keep in mind this is only a guide.

We will decide whether it is reasonable to replace it with another rate or whether to make other changes to how we calculate interest.