GEORGE Dunning expresses his concern that mortgage holders will be shocked by the Bank of England interest rise and may find mortgage repayments unmanageable. (HAS, Nov 6).

To give this some context the Bank of England interest rate has risen from the historically lowest ever figure to the second ever figure. Despite this marginal rise industry experts describe mortgage loan rates as very cheap.

Whilst fully accepting Mr Dunning’s comment that wages are not keeping pace with inflation I can recall times when mortgage rates and inflation were astronomical in comparison to current figures and wage rises never came close to matching them. Why should home buyers be shocked by a rise in rates?

Granted it’s the first in a number of years but it’s been flagged up as a possibility for many months and when you sign for a mortgage which is not fixed rate you should know what to expect.

I hope and expect that wage caps in the public sector are relaxed to support working families but I really don’t subscribe to the argument (unless through loss of employment etc.) that mortgage repayments are in any sense unmanageable at the current rate.

John Crick, Bishop Auckland