Borrowers who have resorted to Covid emergency loans through peer-to-peer lenders during the pandemic can be protected from interest rate hikes.

Rumor has it that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee is planning a rate hike to contain rising inflation.

This would hit borrowers on any loan with a variable or tracker product that follows the Bank of England base rate.

British Business Bank data shows that 17 percent of accredited lenders offered floating rates under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Lending Program (CBILS).

Another 32 percent offered a mix and 51 percent only offered fixed-price offers.

British Business Bank said there is no equivalent data for the Successor Loan Program (RLS), which does not have an interest-free period.

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CBILS was launched in April 2020 and offers small and medium-sized businesses loans of up to £ 5 million.

The state guaranteed the lender 80 percent of the financing and paid interest and fees for the first 12 months.

Accredited lenders were approved by the British Business Bank and set their own interest rates up to a maximum of 14.99 percent.

But many borrowers may be nearing the end of their first interest-free year, and anyone using a variable CBILS product, or one of its RLS successors, could suddenly see their repayments when interest rates are raised.

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However, Peer2Peer financial news Analysis showed that a number of accredited P2P lenders offered government-secured loans with fixed rates.

Funding Circle, the first CBILS-accredited P2P company and one of the largest lenders under the program, had fixed interest rates between 1.8 and 7.4 percent.

The RLS rates range from 8.6 percent to 12.1 percent and are fixed.

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Assetz Capital also offered fixed rates on its CBILS and RLS loans.

She hasn’t disclosed her CBILS rates, but her RLS rates start at 6.99 percent per annum for development finance loans and 5.99 percent for commercial mortgages.

LendingCrowd offered fixed-rate CBILS loans starting at 5.6 percent.