Types of Mortgages

With the mortgage market providing increasingly more choice, it is important to decide the type of mortgage that best suits your needs.

Below are brief explanations of the various mortgage schemes available. Your personal mortgage adviser will be able to provide you with more information and once the scheme you want has been decided, they will search for the most suitable mortgage deal.

Variable rate

• Payments will go up and down as lenders change the interest rates, which will be largely influenced by changes to the Bank of England base rate.
• Some lenders will make the change to your payment as soon as the rate change takes effect, whilst others will adjust your payments just once a year based on any increases or reductions in the interest rate over that period.

Capped rate

• Similar to a variable rate, however your rate will not exceed a specified upper limit for a fixed period, even if interest rates rise beyond that point.
• An arrangement fee may be charged by the lender.
• An early repayment charge may apply.

Fixed rate

• Provides you with the option to fix your rate for any period between 1-25 years, however each lender may have only a limited range of options.
• Generally the shorter the term of the fixed rate, the lower the interest rate.
• At the end of the fixed rate period, some lenders may offer an extended fixed rate option otherwise the rate will return to the Lender's standard variable rate.
• An arrangement fee will often be charged by the lender.
• An early repayment charge may apply.

Discounted rate

• For an agreed limited fixed period, the lender will apply a discount off their standard variable rate.
• Generally, the shorter the discount period the larger the discount.
• An arrangement fee will often be charged by the lender.
• An early repayment charge may apply.

Flexible mortgage

• May allow you to vary your payments within given parameters.
• Payment holidays may also be a feature with some lenders.
• More flexibility in payments may enable you to pay off your mortgage earlier if you make overpayments.

Cash back mortgage

• You will receive a cash lump sum usually at the commencement of your mortgage. This will often be an agreed percentage of the amount that you borrowed.
• An early repayment charge may apply.
• Some or all of the cash back may have to be repaid upon early repayment of the mortgage.

Base rate tracker

• The lender agrees a rate linked to the Bank of England base rate in the form of either a loading or discount for a set period.
• The Bank of England review the base rate every month, although the reviews do not necessarily result in a change of rate.
• An arrangement fee may be charged by the lender.
• An early repayment charge may apply.

One of our Personal Mortgage Advisers will help you through the process step-by-step, working out how much you can borrow, how much it will cost, and what type of mortgage may be most suitable for you.

They will even take care of all the mortgage paperwork for you, so you don't need to worry about a thing.

Call one of our Advisers now: 0800 0850118