In January 2013 Money reported the case of Linden Rowland, an IT consultant whose five-year fixed-rate deal with Santander had just ended, leaving him paying the lender’s 4.74pc variable mortgage rate. Because his income as a self-employed consultant was not especially high, Santander said it would not allow him the cheaper deals it was offering to other customers and to new applicants. As he put it: “The bank is saying I cannot afford to pay considerably less than I have been paying for the last 11 years.” After the intervention of this newspaper, Santander relented and offered him a 2.49pc deal.