Complaint
In an item on interest rates, the reporter described the current average rate for two-year fixed term mortgages as “still incredibly high”. A listener complained that the description was inappropriate, on the basis that “Mortgage rates have been above this level many times within the lives of your listening public”. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
While accepting that higher rates were experienced in the period before the 2008 financial crisis, the ECU noted that rates had risen steeply since the beginning of 2022, leading to sharply increased repayments for many, and that the reporter had said two-year mortgages had “reached their highest rate for 15 years”. Consequently the ECU saw no basis for concluding listeners would have been misled by the reporter’s description, or that it was other than duly accurate in the context.
Not upheld