CUMBERLAND Building Society has been named as top performer in a league table of the top 35 mortgage lenders operating in Cumbria.

The county's biggest building society topped the table in a half-yearly survey of mortgage interest charged by lenders, conducted by Moneyfacts.

The survey was based on the total interest paid on a £100,000 standard variable rate mortgage, with borrowers of at least five years with the Cumberland paying the lowest charges, and borrowers under five years with the society getting the third best deal.

HSBC was rated the second best lender, followed by Northern Rock and Halifax. The figures did not take account of any other discounts available.

Melanie Stewart, head of research at Moneyfacts, said the research "clearly shows the excellent value which the Cumberland Building Society has continued to offer its loyal borrowers and must surely demonstrate a tangible benefit of being a borrower with a mutual building society rather than a bank."

Cumberland spokesman Tony Barnes said the society had consistently offered one of the lowest standard variable mortgage rates in the country.

January 16, 2003 10:30