United Bank for Africa is the most favorable bank for individuals to borrow from. That is according to the latest Annual Percentage Rates released by the Bank of Ghana. The APR indicates the percentage of interest a bank is likely to charge on a loan, including some charges which will not readily be known to the borrower. According to the rates applicable as at 31 May, UBA offered the lowest lending rate of 25.27 percent, more than 300 basis points lower than SG-SSB which has for several months now been the most favorable lender to households. Joy Business Desk however takes a deep look into some aspects of the latest survey in the following report; Report The APRs are published regularly by the Bank of Ghana because it says it wants borrowers to be informed of the actual interest rates charged by the banks on their loans and which are usually higher than their advertised base rates. The latest survey released however shows UBA has an APR which is interestingly lower than its base rate. So that whilst it had a base or minimum lending rate of 27 percent, it’s APR after loan processing fees and all other costs rather reduced the cost of borrowing to 25.27 percent for households. Even though banks tend to discriminate when it comes to how much interest they charge, the practice of securing loans for less than base rate is reserved for just a few privileged borrowers, often large very credible organizations or individuals and not regulars. Though UBA officials insist the variance is not a strange occurrence, the Bank of Ghana says it is unusual and is investigating. Ecobank was one other such bank with a similar issue even though with a rather negligible variance from the base rate. Apart from the curious variations however a few of the banks have revised their base rates downward since the APRs were compiled and as such may be offering better rates now. Ghana Commercial Bank for instance had a base rate of 26 percent. It has however since dropped it to 22.75 percent, and is known to be offering the lowest base rate at the moment. Meanwhile the best bank for individuals and businesses to keep their monies is the National Investment Bank as it offers the highest interests on deposits at 16.94 percent. The Ghana Bank of Ghana sees the regular publication of the APRs as a tool to inform borrowers about prevailing rates and pressure the commercial banks to reduce their interest charges. Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana