What’s the deal?

A two-year mortgage offer from HSBC that has a starting rate of 1.99 per cent. The bank said this was the lowest initial rate it had ever provided on one of its mortgages. The deal is a discount mortgage, which means it is pegged to HSBC’s standard variable rate (SVR) rather than the Bank of England base rate. The mortgage rate will remain 1.95 per cent below the bank’s SVR for two years and will then revert to the SVR (currently 3.94 per cent).