Customers who find themselves having to pay back a bank loan, will be interested to note that latest figures has revealed that the biggest banks in Britain have increased their profits from customers by 12% to £3.8 billion within this credit crunch period.

The statistics has revealed that borrowers are now paying more for loans when banking with such luminaries as HSBC, HBOS, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Melanie Bien of Savills Private Finance, a broker, said: “Lenders have been increasing their margins during the credit crunch and there is absolutely no question – mortgages are profitable again. Now, in these results, the big banks are blatantly admitting they are looking to continue improving margins, meaning higher costs for borrowers.”

To highlight one set of figures, HSBC, has registered a 28% drop in global profits, but has stated an increase of 85% to £605m within its personal banking division.

Jonathan Pierce of Credit Suisse said: “A lot more of the volume is going to the biggest banks – rather than the specialist lenders and building societies – and they are in effect writing the entire net mortgage market at the moment. The reduction in competition combined with the realisation that previous pricing was unsustainable-ably low, means higher margins.

“In the second half of the year, however, mortgage-impairment charges will increase as will unsecured charges. This is going to start translating into higher losses.”