Banking giant HSBC has announced it will offer British homeowners facing higher mortgages rates the option of matching their old rates by switching to HSBC, according to a report on Dow Jones Market Watch.

The HSBC mortgage offer means HSBC customers can apply for the “Rate Matcher” mortgage, which matches rates as low as 4.54% for the next two years.

“In general, mortgages are harder to come by,” says John Stepek in MoneyWeek.

“They’re desperate to find one bank willing to lend to them, let alone a selection. So even though it’s costing banks more to borrow money, they’re able to widen their profit margins substantially – say to more like 1% or more.

“That’s not to mention the rapid rise in arrangement fees. I read at the weekend that one lender is now charging arrangement fees to take out its standard variable rate mortgage, something that was unheard of up until now.”