BORROWERS have been warned that the days of cheap two-year mortgages may be numbered, as it emerged that bewildered consumers are defaulting on to their lender’s expensive standard-variable rates (SVRs) rather than navigate the mortgage maze. Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, last week raised rates on its two-year trackers by so much that some are now higher than its SVR. Its two-year tracker for new borrowers with a 5% deposit went up from 6.43% to 7%, which is above its SVR at just 6.74%. The building society also lifted two-year fixed rates by 0.2 percentage points. Cheltenham & Gloucester, the mortgage arm of Lloyds TSB, also raised some two-year trackers by up to 0.35 points, takings its two-year deal to 6.99% – just 0.26% beneath its standard rate of 7.25%. The lender also cut the maximum amount it will lend to 80% of the value of the property.