21.   Those premium levels, which seek to encourage firms to use more fixed rate borrowings, will now apply to the whole loan and not just the guaranteed portion.

22.   Secured and unsecured personal loans -- loans are provided for fixed periods of time, often at fixed rates of interest and equal instalment payments.

23.   One of the major problems faced by finance houses is that of interest rate risk, given the volume of fixed rate lending business.

24.   If interest rates change adversely, finance houses could find themselves funding fixed rate loans with more expensive floating rate loans.

25.   Amid increasing speculation that the Bank of Japan may hike rates later this year, traders cited interest from commercial banks in paying fixed rates and receiving floating rates.

26.   And bank-issued credit cards offer fixed rates almost two percentage points lower than where they were at the beginning of the year.

27.   Another is to buy, in advance and at a fixed rate, a portion of the gas it will need.

28.   As a result, Canada has neither the responsiveness of a completely free floating exchange rate nor the predictability of a fixed rate set by a currency board.

29.   Any decline in the consumer price index could eat into the fixed rate, but it would not touch the underlying principal, officials said.

30.   Banks sought to receive fixed rates and pay Euroyen LIBOR, London interbank offered rate, to avoid being on the receiving end of potentially lower floating rates.