Ananova:

New borrowers are unlikely to see much benefit from today's dramatic 1.5% cut in interest rates, commentators have warned.

A flurry of smaller lenders pulled their tracker mortgage ranges - products which automatically fluctuate with the official rate - soon after the Bank of England's policymakers' announcement.

Others were expected to follow suit throughout the day.

Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said: "By the end of today there will be very few trackers left on the market.

"We will have to wait several days before we see them re-emerge and know by how much lenders have hiked their rates above base rate."

Lloyds TSB and nationalised bank Northern Rock had already withdrawn their tracker mortgage ranges for repricing ahead of today's interest rate cut.

A number of other lenders, including Halifax, Abbey and Nationwide, have also hiked their tracker rates by up to 0.5% in some cases during the past week.

Lenders are also expected to be slow in passing on the reduction to their standard variable rate (SVR) customers.

The number who pass on today's cut in full are expected to remain in single digits.

Lloyds TSB, which also lends under the Cheltenham & Gloucester brand, was quick to announce that it was reducing its SVR by 1.5% to 5% from December 1.

But the group pledges that its SVR will never be more than 2% above base rate, leaving it with little choice.

Most other lenders, including Abbey, HSBC, Halifax, Nationwide and Barclays, failed to announce a reduction, instead saying their rates were under review.

Only 57 of the 96 lenders that have an SVR have passed on October's cut, with many failing to pass on all of the 0.5%.

The problem for lenders is that the key inter-bank lending rate Libor is still high at 5.56%.

The British Bankers' Association was at pains to stress that the reduction in the base rate would not automatically lead to lower funding costs for lenders themselves.

It said the rate they borrow money at is not tied to the base rate, but is rather based on a number of factors including Libor and how easy it is for them to raise money.