The Bank of England has opted to maintain the base rate of interest at five per cent, it has been announced.

Having reduced the rate by a quarter point last month, it was widely anticipated that there would be no change this month but some groups have suggested the move should have been made.

A cut in the base rate might have helped ease the debt management and money problems being faced by thousands of British families and the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has claimed such action would have been good for the housing sector.

The CML’s director general Michael Coogan said: "The monetary policy committee had an opportunity to act to anticipate the worsening economic environment today and it is disappointing that there has been no change."

Earlier this week, Peter Beckett, business development director for iammoving.com, claimed that funding a mortgage deposit through unsecured loans or credit cards is a major and ill-advised financial risk.