Recent increases in the Bank of England's Base Rate are starting to affect consumer borrowing and spending patterns, newly-released figures indicate.

A report from the Building Societies Association (BSA) reveals that building society gross advances amounted to £4,465 million in July this year, compared to the £4,888 million lent in July 2006.

Net advances stood at £598 million in July 2007 - in sharp contrast to the much-larger figure of £1,662 lent out in July 2006. Approvals were £4,014m in July 2007, down from £5,499m in July 2006, the report also showed.

"This is a tale of the five interest rate rises in the last year feeding through to the market. The strong start to the year has fallen away, with gross lending in July representing an 8.7 per cent decrease on gross advances a year before," Adrian Coles, director general of the BSA, said.

"As mortgage payments increase, household finances are likely to be squeezed further. Even if interest rates are near to their peak, potential borrowers need to think about all of their outgoings to make sure they do not overstretch themselves financially.

"Societies are continuing to ensure that they lend responsibly to people who can afford to borrow. This ensures that borrowers should be able to repay their loans - societies don't want to lend to people who are going to have difficulty making repayments."

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