While all the attention in the mortgage market over the past couple of weeks has been on the big banks raising their standard variable mortgage rates to cover the cost of higher regulatory capital requirements, plenty of smaller mortgage lenders have been cutting rates at the same time.Comparison site Mozo reports that 16 lenders cut variable mortgage rates during October. The number of lenders offering variable rates below four per cent has more doubled over the past couple of months.Among the lenders cutting variable rates in October were Abode, Adelaide Bank, Bank Australia, State Custodians and Yellow Brick Road.Some of the reductions were substantial. Beyond Bank introduced a special offer of 4.14 per cent on its Total Home Loan for loans over A$150,000 - a discount of 70 basis points.Community First Credit Union cut its True Basic Home Loan rate by 26 bps to 4.09 per cent for borrowers with loan-to-valuation ratios up to 80 per cent.The complex dynamic in the current market was illustrated by changes introduced by Bankwest, which cut the rate on its Complete Variable Home Loan by 51 bps for borrowers with LVRs up to 80 per cent, while increasing the rate for borrowers with LVRs over 80 per cent by 15 bps. Subsequently the bank announced that all variable rates would go up 18 bps later this month.ME was making similar gyrations. It cut the rate on its Flexible Home Loan Member Package for owner-occupiers by 19 bps to 4.19 per cent last month and then announced at the end of last week that all rates would increase by 20 bps on November 20.While the majority of lenders making rate changes over the past month have cut their rates, Mozo reports that a number of small lenders have followed the big banks by increasing variable rates.In addition to Bankwest and ME, Citibank increased all variable rates by 20 bps, Firstmac increased all variable rates by 15 bps. Macquarie will increase rates by 20 bps on November 12.Brokers should have a field day dealing with all the refinancing inquiries.