Many mortgage lenders have raised their standard variable rate since the base rate was set at 0.5 per cent last March.

Eight building societies have raised their standard variable rate during the freeze.

Mansfield Building Society will become the latest lender to raise its SVR for existing customers, up 0.35 percentage points to 5.59 per cent.

Chief executive Nigel Quinton said part of the blame lay with the difficulty of competing for mortgage and savings customers with banks which have been helped by the taxpayer.

One of the most controversial changes was made by Nationwide which has the best SVR at 2.5 per cent. It changed the rules for customers who have taken out a mortgage with it since April 30 last year.

When their deal ends, they are not allowed to move to the 2.5 per cent rate, but are forced on to one at 3.99 per cent

On another hand, Virgin has made and acquisition of Somerset-based Church House – cleared by the Financial Services Authority – gives it the platform to move into deposits and mortgages and boost the scale of the business through further deals.

Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, said: “The Church House Trust business offers us a strong platform for growth.“Virgin Money aims to bring simplicity to the UK banking market, which has traditionally been a complex sector.”

Virgin has been known to provide a better deal for customers over the years, the moving into the banking sector will hopefully cut down on all the unnecessary stealth charges being offered by the other bands.