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Tracker customers facing 'triple whammy'

People currently paying off their tracker mortgage loans are being hit by a "triple whammy" of extra costs, Defaqto has claimed.

Particularly hit are those homeowners who took out the trackers - loan products which are designed to fall and rise with the Bank of England-set base rate - last summer, just before the credit crunch began.

Defaqto pointed out that, while the base rate has now been cut by 0.5 per cent since, the crunch has ensured that nervous banks have actually increased their trackers by an average of 0.68 per cent.

Homeowners hoping to take out tracker loans have also been affected by lack of supply, with numbers of products on the market dropping by 25 per cent.

Moreover, borrowers are now facing a third financial threat - with Defaqto finding that application fees have increased by 46 per cent since July 2007.

Consultant at the firm David Black said: "With banks and building societies trying to repair their balance sheets in an atmosphere of financial mayhem, it is hardly surprising it is the poor consumer who is caught in the middle and is having to pay more for less choice.

"It is almost as though we are going back to the days when lenders felt they are doing you a favour by offering you a mortgage."

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