First Time Buyer Guide MSE
User Manual:
Open the PDF directly: View PDF 
.
Page Count: 29
SECTION TITLE
MoneySavingExpert.com 3
MoneySavingExpert.com
First Time Buyers’
Mortgage Guide 2018
Written by Martin Lewis, Liz Phillips and Guy Anker
Here’s your copy of the MoneySavingExpert.com Guide to Mortgages, sponsored by us, L&C.
If you’ve never bought a home before, the whole process can seem quite bewildering. And often, arranging
a mortgage can look like the most complicated bit of all.
Which is why you should nd this guide so helpful. It takes you through the whole mortgage process, step
by step, and even starts with some basic questions that you may be asking yourself right now, like is a
mortgage right for me?
A helping hand
Remember, when you start your mortgage search, L&C is on hand to help. There are literally thousands of
mortgage products out there. And even when you’re armed with all the facts, it can be tough nding one
that best suits your needs.
But when you apply through L&C, we do all the hard work for you. After a quick chat with you on the
phone, we’ll search right across the mortgage market to nd the deal that’s right for you.
Next, we’ll ll in the vast majority of the application paperwork for you – to speed along the process and
take away the stress. We even pre-qualify your application to make sure it’s accepted by the lender. In
short, we’ll save you time, hassle and potentially a lot of money in the long run with a great mortgage deal.
And the best bit? Our service is absolutely free for you. We make money when the lender pays us a fee for
nding them a customer. None of this cost is passed on to you at any stage. So you genuinely don’t pay a
penny for our award winning service.
For a free no-obligation review, simply call us free on 0800 694 0444 or go to
www.landc.co.uk/ml/mortgage-guide.
We hope to speak to you soon.
Phillip Cartwright
Managing Director SPONSORED BY
Your Free Guide to Mortgages
MoneySavingExpert.com
SECTION TITLE
4
CONTENTS
All information correct at time of going to press (January 2018).
Foreword – Independence and integrity Page 1
Who’s this guide for? Page 2
Martin’s Mortgage Introduction Page 3
Chapter 1 Is a mortgage right for me? Page 4
Chapter 2 Have you got a big enough deposit? Page 6
– Help to Buy ISAs
– Help to Buy (mortgage guarantee)
– Help to Buy 2 (equity loan)
– Shared ownership
– Guarantor mortgages
Chapter 3 Boost your chances of getting a mortgage Page 15
Chapter 4 What type of mortgage to choose? Page 19
Chapter 5 Mortgages for the self-employed / contract workers Page 36
Chapter 6 Don’t forget the fees Page 37
Chapter 7 How to get a mortgage Page 40
Chapter 8 Watch out for the hard sell on... Page 47
Chapter 9 First time buyers’ quick Q&A Page 49
Chapter 10 Happy hunting Page 52
FOREWORD
MoneySavingExpert.com 1
Independence and integrity
This guide is sponsored by L&C Mortgages. That’s the reason we can print and distribute it for
free.
So let me make something very plain.
This guide is written with absolute editorial independence. What’s in it is purely dependent
on my, and my team’s, view of the best ways to save money and the sponsor’s view on that
is irrelevant.
However, the reason I agreed to allow L&C to be the sponsor is because after detailed research
into those brokers that oer coverage nationwide, L&C has come out as one of the top ones for
a number of years.
It’s very important that this is understood and no one thinks it is the other way round,
in other words, it is recommended because it sponsors the guide. Like everything with
MoneySavingExpert.com, the editorial (what’s written) is purely about what’s the best deal.
If L&C no longer oers the deal it currently does, and either starts charging fees or stops
being independent and oering products from across the market, we’d ditch it as a pick
immediately. You can check if that’s happened via an up-to-date article on mortgage brokers
on the site. Just go to www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagebrokers.
“This guide is
written with
absolute editorial
independence”
MoneySavingExpert.com
WHO IS THIS GUIDE FOR?
2
Who’s this guide for?
It’s for anyone who wants to buy a property and needs to
persuade a nancial institution to lend them the cash to make it
happen. The UK mortgage market is highly competitive, but also
far pickier than it used to be.
So the challenge is threefold. First, you need to sort yourself out
so that you’re attractive enough to lenders to get a mortgage.
Next you need to make sure you can get a mortgage, then you
need to ensure it’s one that’s cheap and right for you.
So this is specically for...
New buyers
Those who don’t own a property and are looking to buy one.
Whether you’ve a small or large deposit, and whether you’ve got
a good or bad credit history, this guide will explain your options.
Who this guide isn’t for
Remortgagers
If you already have a mortgage and want to cut the cost,
then there’s a special guide just for you. Go to
www.moneysavingexpert.com/remortgage-guide to get it.
INTRODUCTION
MoneySavingExpert.com 3
Martin’s Mortgage Introduction
Getting a mortgage is one of the biggest nancial commitments you’re ever likely to make so
it should be taken seriously. However, while it may feel scary, it needn’t be dicult.
As we’ll explain later, there is a lot of help available. You can, and often should, use a
mortgage broker to go through the options with you. They have access to information you
don’t — such as lenders’ credit and aordability criteria — so a good broker should help
match you to the right deal.
You may ask: “Why bother writing a guide, if I’m just going to get a broker to do it for me?”
The answer is simple: mortgage brokers are advisers, not teachers. Ultimately, it’s you who
takes the decision and you who’ll feel the impact of that decision.
Even though you’re taking advice, asking the right questions and understanding exactly how
mortgages work is the best weapon possible.
So see this free guide as a way to tool up your knowledge to put you in a condent position
to make the right decision. By the end of this guide, I hope you’ll not only understand how to
get a mortgage, but how to get the best MoneySaving mortgage possible.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 1
4
Is a mortgage right for me?
In the mid-noughties, you only had to catch a mortgage
lender’s eye for it to throw a mortgage deal at you. You could
borrow whatever you wanted, sometimes shockingly even
more than the home you were buying was worth. Time and
the credit crunch have changed things radically.
These days many more people struggle to get mortgages,
so much so the Government has even launched a range of
schemes such as Help to Buy to try to push lenders to oer
more.
So the starting point for rst timers is no longer about
choosing the mortgage that’s right for them. It’s about
ensuring you’ll be chosen for a loan by a mortgage company
at a rate that is aordable for you.
Can you really afford a mortgage?
First things rst. This is a numbers game so before you do
anything else, have a good look at your nances. Use
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/moneymakeover to
overhaul your nances and work out what you can realistically
aord to pay every month. Do your homework to nd out
what’s available.
It’s important you do this before lenders do. You can use
www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagecalc to see how
much your mortgage is likely to cost you each month. Think
carefully about whether you can aord it, and what would
happen if interest rates went up. The mortgage needs to be
within your nancial comfort zone; don’t push too hard, you
just risk future unaordability and that can be catastrophic.
CHAPTER 1
MoneySavingExpert.com 5
How much will they lend you?
Historically, lenders simply multiplied your income to work out how much to lend you.
Typically, a single person could borrow four times their single salary while a couple would be
oered four times their joint salary.
Now it’s all about aordability. Lenders look at your income compared to your outgoings
(bills and other debts) and work out how much spare cash you have each month.
This can get tricky. Some lenders are so picky that even when you’ve paid debts o — say, on
a credit card — just before applying, they factor in how much available credit you have. Or
they may see you as a higher risk if you’re using more than half the credit available to you.
They’ll also factor in all your credit card and loan repayments.
Even once they’ve done the maths, they’ll want you to have a cushion in case mortgage
rates rise, and to ensure you’re not right on the edge of your nances. As a result, mortgage
lenders will ‘stress test’ you on a higher mortgage rate, typically 6-7%, to check if you could
still aord to repay.
Martin’s Mortgage Moment
Renting isn’t a dirty word
“Must own, must own, must own,” has become a mantra of our age. I remember
meeting a 21-year-old couple while lming who were upset they weren’t on the
housing ladder yet.
Let’s make this plain. Owning a house is great, but not a necessity. As the credit crunch
showed, house prices can and do go down, both in the short term and the long term.
True, over the very long term it’s unlikely, but no one can predict the future.
If you’re buying a house to live in, the fact you won’t need to pay rent really does help
the equation. Yet don’t starve to do it.
Your overall nances are more important, so make sure you can aord the house and
denitely don’t overstretch yourself — if you think it may be a little much, take a step
back and pause. Not owning is better than getting repossessed. Better to wait a little
until you’re secure. Remember, renting isn’t a crime. In some circumstances it’s worse,
but if house prices drop, it’s often the winner. No one really knows, so don’t panic.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 2
6
Have you got a big enough deposit?
The days of deposit-less mortgages are long gone. Often, you’re going to need to get a
substantial sum of cash together to get a property at a decent interest rate.
The deposit not only proves that you’re solvent and have nancial discipline, but it also
means the mortgage loan is less of a risk for the mortgage company. That’s because a
mortgage is a secured loan (in other words, if you can’t repay, it gets your home) so by
lending the money it’s taking a gamble on house prices.
If you’ve a 20% deposit, then house prices would need to drop by 20% before it wouldn’t
be able to recoup the full amount of the loan if you couldn’t pay it back. So the bigger the
deposit, the more it’s protected.
There’s no easy shortcut to getting the cash — it may come from saving up
(see www.moneysavingexpert.com/moneymakeover for tips to help), money from parents
or grandparents, selling your car, cutting back on everything or getting an inheritance. But
the fact remains — no deposit = no mortgage.
Q. How big a deposit will I need to get a mortgage?
A. To get a mortgage you usually need a minimum deposit of 5%. Yet to get a good
mortgage interest rate, currently you’ll often need more than 20% of the home’s value as a
deposit and more than 40% for the kick-butt market-leading deals.
The golden rule is quite simple. The bigger the deposit, the better the interest rate, the lower
your monthly repayments, the cheaper the mortgage. The dierence between a 5% and 10%
deposit is huge; the next big jump’s at 20%, then 40%. So if you have any chance of pushing
yourself up a band (or perhaps asking parents to help), do it.
CHAPTER 2
MoneySavingExpert.com 7
The table on the previous page shows the eect of having a bigger deposit, as the rates get
better the more you have (rates correct in January 2018).
It’s worth noting that back in 2012 anything under a 10% deposit was impossible to get.
The big change to the market has been the growth in the number of 5% deposit mortgages,
primarily due to the Government’s Help to Buy scheme (more on this later).
Yet while they’re available, the rates are still high compared to having a bigger deposit. So
you should do your aordability maths carefully before plumping for one.
Q. In the best buy tables it says “LTV”, not deposit —
what does that mean?
A. This is a gure lenders often use to indicate how big a deposit you need and you’ll see
it in best buy tables. LTV stands for the loan-to-value ratio (LTV), which is the percentage of
the property value you’re loaned as a mortgage. In others words, it’s the proportion that
you’re borrowing.
To calculate this, simply subtract your deposit as a percent of the property value from 100%. So
if you’ve a £20,000 deposit on a £100,000 home, that’s a 20% deposit, meaning you owe 80% —
so the LTV is 80%. Just in case you’re struggling or scared of maths, here’s an easy table…
LTV Equals deposit of LTV Equals deposit of
95% 5% 70% 30%
90% 10% 65% 35%
85% 15% 60% 40%
80% 20% 55% 45%
75% 25% 50% 50%
Deposit 5% 10% 20% 25% 40%
Interest rate 3.29% 1.82% 1.35% 1.24% 1.19%
Loan amount £142,500 £135,000 £120,000 £112,500 £90,000
Monthly cost £697 £560 £472 £436 £347
Total cost over 2 years £16,728 £13,440 £11,328 £10,464 £8,238
The effect of having a bigger deposit
Based on the best value 2-year xed rates for a rst-time buyer with a house purchase
price of £150,000 on a capital repayment basis over a 25-year term.
The reason it’s expressed this way is so the same term can be used for those getting a rst
mortgage and those who want to remortgage (changing your mortgage deal later on). Once
you have a mortgage, you no longer have a deposit, so it becomes all about what proportion
of the property’s value you’re borrowing.
It’s worth thinking about LTVs for a moment. They’re not just aected by the amount you
put into a property, but also by house prices. This is crucial — by buying a property, you’re
investing in an asset where the price moves.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 2
8
A practical example… let’s say you have a £10,000 deposit on a £100,000 house — that means you
owe £90,000 at the start. That’s an LTV of 90%.
After a few years you’ll have paid a little o and now owe £85,000. If you came to remortgage (get
a new deal) and the house’s value is the same, your LTV becomes 85%.
Yet if the house is now worth more, say £120,000, then your LTV is about 70% (as it’s £85,000
divided by £120,000 multiplied by 100). This means you’ll be likely to get a much better mortgage
deal. Equally, if the house’s value had dropped to £80,000, you’d now owe more than it’s worth
(which is called negative equity) and be unable to remortgage.
Q. OK. I think I’ve got it. So for a 90% LTV mortgage I need a
deposit of 10% of the property price?
A. Big picture yes, correct, but it’s not quite that simple. You’ve made an oer on a
property. The seller has accepted your oer. The mortgage company will now do a valuation
of the property before it commits to lending you the money. The lender will base the LTV
calculation on the lower of the purchase price or the valuation. So if the lender values the
property at less than you’ve agreed to pay for it, it’ll only lend you 90% of the value it has
placed on the property. This could mean you need a larger than expected deposit.
An example will help.
You’re buying a house and you agreed a £200,000 price with the seller and have a £20,000 deposit.
Yet the mortgage valuation says it’s only worth £190,000. For a 90% LTV mortgage the company
will only give you a £171,000 loan (90% of £190,000), so now you’ll have to put up a £29,000
deposit to make it up to £200,000. You’ll have to nd a further £9,000 to buy the property, which
works out as a 14.5% deposit.
If that happens to you (don’t panic, it doesn’t happen to everyone) it’s worth considering at
that point whether it’s really the right place for you. It’s always worth going back to the seller
and making a new oer based on your lender’s valuation.
CHAPTER 2
MoneySavingExpert.com 9
Q. What about Help to buy ISAs or Lifetime ISAs?
A. If you’re a rst-time buyer saving for a mortgage deposit, the Help to Buy ISA set up by
the Government in 2015 and the lifetime ISA launched last April are both worth considering.
Help to Buy ISAs
Those 16+ can earn interest of up to 2.27% and then get 25% added on top when they use it
for a mortgage deposit. Here are the basics...
- You can save up to £1,200 in your rst month, then up to £200 each month after. When you
use it for a deposit, a 25% bonus is added on top.
- The minimum you need saved to get a bonus is £1,600 (the bonus would be £400).
- The biggest bonus possible is £3,000 – which needs £12,000 saved.
- The biggest bonus possible is £3,000 – which needs £12,000 saved.
- If you’re buying with someone who’s owned before, you can get one, they can’t. If two rst-
time buyers buy together, they can both get one.
- You need to use it on a property costing £250,000 or less, or £450,000 or less within the
London boroughs.
- You don’t have to use it for a deposit. You can make partial (or full) withdrawals. You’d still
get the interest just not the bonus.
- Help to Buy ISAs can be used with ANY residential mortgage (normal mortgage, new build,
shared ownership, Help to Buy), just not buy-to-let.
- And don’t think if you get a top-paying Help to Buy ISA from a particular lender that you
must also get its mortgage. You’re free to get a mortgage from anyone so you should
ALWAYS check across the market.
For full info on how Help to Buy ISAs work see www.moneysavingexpert.com/helptobuyisa
Lifetime ISAs
The Lifetime ISA (LISA) is designed to help you buy your rst home or save for retirement.
You must be aged 18 or over but under 40 to open one.
The LISA lets you put up to £4,000 in it every year. It can be as cash savings - so you get
interest - or stocks and shares investing - so you get share growth (or loss). Here are the
basics...
- You can save up to £4,000 a year in a LISA. The state will then add a 25% bonus on top.
- The max bonus is £33,000 (unless rules change), if you open it at 18 and max it out until you
hit 50.
- You can use your LISA to help you buy your rst home if the property costs £450,000
or less.
- If you’re buying with someone who is also a rst-time buyer you can both use your LISA
savings and bonus.
Also, for full info on Lifetime ISAs see www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-ISAs.
Wondering if you should open a Help to Buy ISA or a Lifetime ISA?
See http://mse.me/helptobuyvslisa for more info.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 2
10
CHAPTER 2
MoneySavingExpert.com 11
Q. Isn’t there a Help to Buy scheme just for new builds?
A. Yes. The Help to Buy (equity loan) scheme launched in April 2013 and still running. It’s
only for those buying a new build and the scheme works slightly dierently depending on
where you are in the country.
In England, it’s only for those buying a new build worth under £600,000 (£300,000 in Wales).
Rather obviously, it was set up to help encourage building because of the UK’s shortage of
houses.
Here, provided you’ve a deposit of 5% and you pass the criteria, the Government will give you
an interest-free (for the rst ve years) loan of 20% of the purchase price (up to 40% within
Greater London) and you raise a mortgage of 75% for the rest.
As you’re only borrowing 75% you’ll get access to cheaper rates than you would for a
95% mortgage. Yet you’re not just getting a mortgage, you’re also getting an interest-only
equity loan.
• For the rst ve years the Government loan is interest-free, then it’s about 1.75% from
year six onwards.
• Do note, here you are only repaying the interest, not the loan itself.
• The idea is you pay back this loan when you sell the property, by giving the Government
20% of the sale price — so it shares in any growth or loss. So if house prices rise rapidly,
you’ll repay a lot more than you borrowed. If you want to pay it back earlier, the market
value of the property will be assessed.
A practical example…
Purchase price: £200,000
Your 5% deposit: £10,000
The Government will lend you 20%: £40,000
So you need a mortgage for 75%: £150,000.
Further down the line, you sell the property for £220,000.
You need to pay back the Government its 20%.
20% of £220,000 is £44,000.
You need to pay the Government back £4,000 more than you originally borrowed from it.
If you’re buying in Scotland, there’s a similar scheme called the Help to Buy (Scotland)
Aordable New Build scheme where the Scottish Government will take a stake of up to 15%
in the property. More information can be found at:
https://www.mygov.scot/help-to-buy/
Northern Ireland also has a dierent scheme known as co-ownership, where the purchase
price is limited to £160,000 and there’s no interest to pay, but you do pay rent on the
Government’s share. More information at: www.co-ownership.org
Q. What are shared ownership schemes?
A. You may be eligible for one of the many shared ownership schemes available across the
country. As the name suggests, here you’re not buying the whole property outright, just a cut
of it.
Usually run by housing associations, borrowers typically buy a share of a property worth
between 25% and 75% and pay rent on the rest. Later on, if you can aord it, you’ve a right to
increase your share of the property.
There are no simple rules for who will get one. It depends on who is oering it. The housing
association will decide, based on how much you earn and the cost of local housing. Earn too
much and you won’t qualify, earn too little and you won’t either. It can even take into account
whether you have children or not — some areas prioritise families.
There is also additional help for ‘key workers’ such as nurses, teachers and police ocers,
although the eligibility criteria varies according to local priorities. These are usually oered by
local authorities.
When selling, be warned that the housing association will
have a say where it still owns a share.
If you’re considering it, it’s a very dierent type of deal to
the mortgages in this guide, and you will need a specialist
mortgage, which will be harder to nd. Read more at
www.moneysavingexpert.com/sharedownership and
www.gov.uk/aordable-home-ownership-schemes, or
contact your local authority and/or housing association.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 2
12
CHAPTER 2
MoneySavingExpert.com 13
Q. Any other schemes I should look at if I’m struggling
to afford a mortgage?
A. There are, but be careful. Getting a mortgage isn’t the be-all and end-all. Ensure your
nances are suitable. Don’t push it too hard.
There are a few further options available but they can be costlier…
Asking family/parents to act as a guarantor
Many rst-time buyers rely on help from mum and dad for their deposit. But parents can be
much more directly involved. There are a number of mortgages which incorporate parental
nances in one way or another. It’s a big topic, so if you need this it’s worth talking it through
with a broker (see chapter 7).
A number of deals will take parental income into account as well as the child’s income, as
long as the parents can still cover their own mortgage — this can help you get a bigger
mortgage as it’s worked out on a higher income. To avoid tax complications the parents are
not listed as owners, but guarantee to cover the mortgage if you can’t so they are liable for
repayments and arrears.
It’s also possible for parents to guarantee just the extra portion of the mortgage above the
amount covered by their child’s income, or to undertake to cover repayments should the
child default.
Parents can also help their children without surrendering their cash. There are some oset
mortgages (more about these later) which will use parental savings to reduce the child’s
mortgage, while still allowing them access to the cash if necessary.
Starter Homes scheme
If you’re aged between 23 and 40 and haven’t owned a home before, you could be eligible
for the new Starter Home scheme which will allow you to purchase a new build home for a
discounted price of at least 20% o market price.
The rst homes should be available to purchase from Spring 2018. More information can be
found at: www.new-homes.co.uk/starter-homes/.
Mates’ mortgages
There’s a growing trend for friends (or siblings) to club together to buy a property — some
lenders allow up to four people to get a joint mortgage.
Clearly, the pooled salaries increase your buying power, but remember you’ll need a bigger
property, which could take you into a higher price and stamp duty bracket. See
www.moneysavingexpert.com/stampduty.
You need to consider what would happen if one of you lost your job or wanted to sell your
share. It’s not something to be done lightly. Once you take on a mortgage together you’re
nancially linked — your friend’s credit rating will now aect yours.
Don’t do this without sorting a legal contract between you covering all the ‘what if’ possibilities
and what your rights are. Too many people arrange it thinking “we’re good friends” or even
“we’re lovers” and don’t think about what could go wrong, causing a nightmare.
It’s better to have the discussions when you’re still friendly than to be ghting later if it all
goes wrong. A shared debt, especially a large one like a mortgage, ties you down almost as
much as marriage does.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 2
14
Martin’s Mortgage Moment
The mortgage ticking timebomb — can you really aord it?
To say UK interest rates are low right now is a bit like saying the phone-hacking
scandal caused newspapers a small PR issue. Interest rates aren’t low, they’re cave
diving, wallowing far beneath the recorded 200-year historic low. In fact, anything
below 2% is simply unprecedented – which means for a number of years we have
been in an interest rate anomaly.
To put it in context, those who are coming to the end of their 25-year mortgage term
were paying 6% when they started. And while rates seem cheap now, actually in
some ways they’re more expensive. The gap between the UK base rate and mortgage
rates has grown in recent years. Before the credit crunch you only paid one or two
percentage points more, now many lock in at three or even four percentage points
above base rate — a much bigger margin. That mightn’t sound much but every
percentage point adds at least £60 per month on a £100,000 of mortgage to your
repayments.
We’ve already seen the base rate trickle up from its lowest of 0.25%, so just think
about the impact it’ll have if it nally starts to turn and continues to rise. Mortgage
rates will shoot up, mostly in parallel. For the nation, that’s a ticking time bomb —
millions may struggle to be able to aord to repay. Yet you’re still able to position
yourself accordingly. If you’re looking to get a mortgage now, think extra carefully
if you could really aord such a hike and don’t plan on paying rock bottom rates
forever. If the base rate returns to 2008′s historically normal 5% (not a prediction —
just a possibility) then someone with a £200,000 interest-only mortgage tracker could
see their payment explode from £500 to £1,330 a month.
CHAPTER 3
MoneySavingExpert.com 15
“Think of it like a beauty parade
where you need to make yourself as
attractive as possible to lenders.”
Boost your chances of getting a mortgage
Having a big enough deposit isn’t the end of the game. It’s just the start. These days,
aordability and credit checks play a crucial part in a lender’s assessment of whether they
will give you a mortgage.
Each lender has its own bespoke criteria, so this is more art than science. Think of it as a
beauty parade where you need to make yourself as attractive as possible to lenders in the
hope they’ll pick you out of the line-up.
Not everyone will view you the same way, but there are many little and large things you can do
to shape up and stand out that are likely to make a big dierence. Let’s run through them…
Boost your credit score
This isn’t a quick x. Some of the techniques below need to be done months before applying,
so ensure you do the necessary groundwork in good time or risk a rejection.
The lender’s aim is to ensure you’re a protable customer and can make your repayments. It
does this by credit scoring you, to try to predict your future behaviour based on your past.
These criteria aren’t published, so it’s impossible to pinpoint which lender wants what. But
many mortgage brokers (see chapter 7) have a reasonable idea which lenders are pickier and
what they look for in a borrower.
Lenders are now much more selective — if your score is poor, almost all will reject you.
Here are some quick tips to help but if it’s an issue for you, spend more time and read the
complete guide at www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditrating or join MoneySavingExpert’s
unique Credit Club to get your Experian credit score, and nd out what lenders really know
about your nances: www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 3
16
“Don’t bother paying for ‘credit
scores’ that the agencies try to og
you, they’re only loosely indicative.”
CHAPTER 3
MoneySavingExpert.com 17
Quick tips
Get on the electoral roll
If not, it makes life so much more dicult. Go to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote to register
on the electoral roll or to check whether you’re already registered. For anyone ineligible
(mainly foreign nationals), you can add a note to your credit le saying you’ve other proofs of
address/residency.
Check your credit le
Get copies of your credit le from all three credit reference agencies — Equifax, Experian and
Callcredit. But don’t bother paying for ‘credit scores’ that the agencies try to og you, they’re
only loosely indicative.
You can do this for free (or even get paid to do it) if you know how,
see www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditcheck.
Once you get your le, check everything for errors. If you think your le is wrong, ask the
lender to correct it. You can add a notice of correction to your le explaining why it’s unfair or
how the circumstances arose. If the credit reference agency won’t help you, you can complain
to the Financial Ombudsman.
Just remember that lenders also rely on your application form and their past dealings with
you, which the credit les don’t contain.
Check addresses on your le
It’s one thing people often miss. Check your address is up to date on all active accounts (even if
you no longer use them). One woman didn’t get a mortgage because her unused but still active
old mobile contract was listed at a past address. Anything unusual causes lenders a worry.
Break with past relationships
Write to credit agencies asking to be delinked from any ex you had joint nances with. This
stops their credit history aecting your applications.
Build / rebuild your score
If you have a poor credit score, it takes time to rebuild it. Perversely, one way to do it is to get a
credit card and spend on it each month. This proves to lenders you can borrow responsibly.
Yet only do this if you ALWAYS repay in full to avoid interest. Put about £50 on it each month,
clear it each month for a year, and it should help. If your credit rating isn’t good enough to get a
normal card, see the www.moneysavingexpert.com/badcredit guide for how to get a card.
Time it right
Issues such as county court judgments for unpaid bills are wiped from your record after
six years, so wait for that until you apply. Applications only stay on your le for a year, so if
you’ve a raft of those (eg, lots of credit cards) then wait.
Don’t miss payments / pay late
Set up a direct debit to make at least the minimum repayment on credit cards so you’re
never late and never miss a month. It’s always better to repay more, so make manual
repayments on top when you can.
Keep other applications to a minimum in the months before a mortgage
Applications, whether successful or not, go on your le, so space out applying for anything
that adds a footprint to your le (including car insurance and mobile phones). The worst
thing is a lot in a short space of time as it makes you look desperate for credit.
Prioritise your mortgage if that’s the most important thing, and hold others o until you’ve
got it.
Never withdraw cash on a credit card
This is specically noted on your le. It’s frowned upon as its incredibly expensive and not a
good sign. It looks like you’re desperate for cash and can’t live within your budget.
Never apply after rejection
Always check for errors on your credit les before applying for anything else. If not, even if
you x an error later on, all the footprints from rejected applications may kibosh your ability
to gain credit anyway.
Again, please remember, these are just the tip of the iceberg. For a full guide to boosting your
credit score, go to www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditrating.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 3
18
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 19
“It’s important to understand
a mortgage is just a loan.
Though, admittedly, a big one.”
More tips to boost acceptance chances
An extra £100 can secure a mortgage
Just putting down 0.1% more than the minimum deposit can boost your acceptability, or at
least cut the amount of documentation the lender wants to see.
For example, imagine you’re applying for a 75% maximum LTV loan on a £100,000 property.
Instead of just putting £25,000 down, put down £25,100. That extra 0.1% could see you
speed and ease up the application process.
Stay out of your overdraft
If you’re constantly using your overdraft this could be seen as living close to the edge of your
nances, so avoid it if possible. In fact, some lenders may not tolerate you being in your
overdraft at all in the last three months.
And if you’ve no choice but to be in your overdraft, should you be getting a mortgage?
Avoid payday loans like the plague
Not just because their rates of interest are hideous but because a few mortgage
underwriters (the people who decide if you’ll get a mortgage) simply reject anyone who’s got
such a loan as it indicates poor money management.
If you’ve had a history with payday loans or problems with them see
www.moneysavingexpert.com/payday.
Close unused credit cards
If you’ve lots of unused credit available, this can
be seen as a negative, as you could borrow large
amounts on a whim without passing a further
credit check. Even if you’ve paid an old card o
and stopped using it, it’ll still show up as active
(as available credit) unless you write to the card
company and shut it down. But there can be
circumstances (such as shutting a long-standing
account with an unblemished history) where
closing cards could be seen as negative. For more
details to help you decide, see
www.moneysavingexpert.com/closeoldcards.
What type of mortgage to choose?
It’s important to understand a mortgage is just a loan. Though, admittedly, a big one.
However, it has two special characteristics.
• It takes a long time to repay
It’s designed to be paid back with interest over a long period, typically 25 years. That means
while the interest rate can be low, as it is applied over a long period of time, you still pay a lot
for it.
• The loan is ‘secured’ on your home
Unlike a bank loan or a credit card debt, a mortgage is what’s called ‘secured’. That means in
return for lending you money, the bank uses the property as security for the mortgage.
While ‘security’ may sound comforting, it’s the lender, not you, that gets the security. It means
if you get into problems and can’t repay, it has the right to repossess your home and sell it to
recover the money you borrowed.
Not only that, but if it does repossess your home and the amount it gets from selling it
doesn’t cover what you borrowed, you usually still have to pay back the remainder. That’s
why ensuring you only borrow what you can aord is crucial.
There is no one-size-ts-all deal. The choice depends on your current and likely future
nancial situation.
Navigating through the plethora of deals on oer can seem bewildering, but it boils down to
a series of consecutive choices — at each one write down your preferences, so when it comes
to nding your mortgage you know what’s right for you.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
20
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 21
Choice 1: Repayment mortgage or interest-only?
Unless you have a compelling reason, repayment is the way forward. It’s the only option
which guarantees you are actually paying o some of the debt every month. With an interest-
only mortgage, you just pay the interest. Your monthly payment does not chip away at your
actual debt — it just covers the cost of borrowing the money. After 25 years of paying the
interest on a £150,000 loan, you would still owe £150,000.
While repayment costs more each month than interest-only, it has the big bonus that it pays
o the original debt too, meaning you owe nothing at the end. And in the meantime, when
you come to remortgage, you’ll have paid o more of the debt so you’ll be able to get a
mortgage with a lower LTV and therefore a lower interest rate.
It’s hard to get interest-only
Frankly, for many these days there’s actually no choice. Several lenders have pulled out of
oering interest-only mortgages.
This is because the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, is clamping down on them
hard. It’s no longer any good relying on some future promise of bonuses or inheritance or
house price rises to cover the capital.
Interest-only mortgages will only be oered in future where there is a credible plan to repay
the capital, making them much rarer than they were.
Beginner’s Briefing
What is an interest rate?
The interest rate is the cost of borrowing money. So if the rate is 1%, that means if you
borrow a pound over a year you’ll repay £1.01. If rates are 44%, you’ll need to repay £1.44.
While that’s simple, when you borrow a large amount of money over a long period — the
interest can really rack up, even if the interest rate is low.
For example, if you borrowed £150,000 on a 5% rate for 25 years, you’d repay £113,000 in
interest alone.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
22
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 23
PROS & CONS OF FIXED RATE
• Starting rates are usually higher than on discount products.
• If interest rates fall, you won’t see your payments drop.
• If you want to get out early, you’ll pay high penalties.
• Certainty. You know exactly what your mortgage will cost.
• Your payments will not go up over the life of the x, no matter how
high rates go.
CONS
PROS
How it works with mortgages
• Repayment
Your repayments are calculated so you’ll have repaid all the debt and the interest over the
term you agree (eg, 25 years).
This has a strange eect. In the early years, your outstanding debt is larger so most of your
monthly repayments go towards paying the interest. Gradually, as you reduce what you owe,
most of your repayments go towards paying o the debt.
For example, on a £100,000 mortgage at 5%, after 10 years you’ll have repaid £70,000 but
only reduced what you owe by £26,000. Yet after a further 10 years, paying another £70,000,
now you’ll reduce the debt by a further £43,000 because less interest is accruing each year.
If you can aord to pay the debt more quickly, though it would mean a higher monthly
payment in the short term, you could save serious cash over the life of the loan.
To see the details for your own situation go to www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagecalc.
Many people, once they realise this, then worry that if they ever remortgage to another deal
they’ll lose all the work they’ve put in to decreasing what they owe.
This isn’t true. Provided you keep the same debt and the same number of years left until it
ends (ie, you have 14 years left to repay and you still intend to repay it in 14 years), then it
stays the same.
• Interest-only mortgages
For those few getting an interest-only mortgage, the cost is pretty simple — if you’ve
borrowed £100,000 at an interest rate of 5%, the cost is £5,000 a year, although remember
that means you still owe the original debt (of £100,000).
Choice 2: What type of deal do you want?
This is the really big choice, and it’s never easy. There are many dierent types of deal but all
fall roughly into two camps. They’re either xed or variable.
Fixed-rate mortgages
Here, regardless of what happens to interest rates, with a xed mortgage your repayments
are… er… well… xed for the length of the deal. They don’t move. They’re like a statue, as still
as a pyramid. OK, hopefully you’ve got it.
So whether you x for two, three, ve years or longer, it’s eectively an insurance policy
against interest rates going up. Of course, if rates tumble (unlikely in current times) your
payments won’t fall.
Like any insurance policy, this protection from rate rises costs. So all other things being
equal, a three-year x will have a higher rate than a three-year variable deal. So it’s worth
evaluating how much the peace of mind is worth to you.
Then again, this isn’t always the case and there can be quirks — this is all part of the
evaluation process.
If you’re worried you may need to move home within the term of the x, check that you can
move your mortgage with you (known as porting). If it is portable and you think you’re likely
to move during the xed period, check when you rst apply whether the lender will raise the
cost of borrowing if you need to borrow more to move into a larger home.
When a x ends, most move on to their lender’s standard variable rate (see page 25).
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
24
Martin’s Mortgage Moment
Don’t let ‘xed rates rising’ stories confuse you
Sometimes you will see stories in the press about xed rates rising (or falling). This
can be confusing. What they’re actually saying is the rate at which you can x is rising.
It’s a way of saying if you are going to lock in to a rate, do it soon — the speedy will
save money.
But if you have a xed-rate mortgage, you won’t pay any more during the term.
It’s important to understand that the rate at which you can x with a new mortgage
does move. So even when UK interest rates are stable, xed rates change. They tend
to follow the City’s prediction of long term interest rates.
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 25
PROS & CONS OF TRACKERS
PROS & CONS OF SVRs
• Uncertainty.
• If rates rise, so will yours.
• You may also be locked in to a xed relationship, so if you are paying a
large amount above the Bank of England base rate and interest rates
jump, it could mean huge future costs.
• Uncertainty.
• There’s no guarantee you’ll get the full benet of all rate changes as you’re
at the mercy of lenders hiking rates at their will.
• These are very transparent.
• You know that only economic change can move your mortgage rate,
rather than the commercial considerations of the lender.
• They can be cheap in some circumstances, but new mortgage customers are
rarely allowed to get them.
• If interest rates are cut, your rate will likely drop too.
• There is usually no early repayment charge, meaning the mortgage can be
paid back in full at any point without penalty.
CONS
CONS
PROS
PROS
Variable rates
Here, your mortgage rate, as the name suggests, can and will usually move up and down. The
major, but not sole cause of this is changes to the UK economy.
In times of growth and ination, interest rates tend to be increased to discourage spending.
This makes saving more attractive and borrowing costlier — meaning people are less likely to
borrow to spend.
In times of recession, interest rates are cut to encourage spending.
However, to complicate things, variable rate deals fall into four categories:
1. Trackers
Here the rate tracks a xed economic indicator. Usually it’s the Bank of England base rate.
This means it’s completely locked in parallel with that rate.
So if the Bank of England rate increases by one percentage point, so does your mortgage. If it
falls by one percentage point, so does your mortgage. Some trackers only run for a couple of
years and then go to the standard variable rate (see below) but you can get ones lasting the
life of your loan.
But beware any small print that allows your lender to up rates even when the base rate hasn’t
moved. It’s rare, but Bank of Ireland did this in 2013. See www.moneysavingexpert.com/boi.
2. Standard variable rates (SVRs)
Each lender has an SVR (or a rate with a similar name) which tends to roughly, but not
exactly, follow the Bank of England base rate.
Rarely available to new customers, it’s the rate you go to when your introductory xed or
tracker special oer deal has ended.
SVRs can be anything from two to ve or more percentage points above the base rate, and
they can vary massively between lenders.
As the base rate shifts up and down, so lenders traditionally move their SVRs, although not
always by the same amount. For example, they may only drop rates by 0.2% when the base
rate drops by 0.25%. But when it goes up they often increase it by at least the full amount,
meaning they increase prots both ways.
Lenders are allowed to move the rate simply because it’s to their advantage. There are many
examples of this happening, hiking people’s costs.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
26
PROS & CONS OF DISCOUNTED RATES
• It should be cheaper than the underlying rate, such as the SVR.
• If interest rates are cut your rate will likely drop too.
• Uncertainty.
• If it’s a discount o the SVR, there’s no guarantee you’ll get the full benet of all
rate changes as you’re still at the mercy of lenders hiking SVRs at their will.
CONS
PROS
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 27
PROS & CONS OF CAPPED DEALS
• You benet from interest rate falls.
• You’ve some protection from interest rate rises.
• The cap tends to be set quite high.
• The starting rate is generally higher than normal variable and xed rates.
CONS
PROS
3. Discount rates
These deals usually oer a discount o a standard variable rate (SVR). The discount tends to
last for a relatively short period — typically two or three years.
Yet be careful when you read the marketing materials as they can be quite confusing. Some
quote the rate with the discount applied and then the rate you’ll move on to later (the SVR).
Others quote the initial rate, the amount of the discount and then the rate you’ll move to
after the discount is over. A few just quote the discount and the SVR. Whatever it says the
main thing is to nd the rate you’ll pay at the start, then check the SVR.
4. A hybrid option — capped deals
These used to be more common, but they are now pretty rare. Here
you have a variable rate but with a safety cap so it cannot rise above
an upper limit.
The rate you pay moves in line with the base rate or SVR but there is
an upper ceiling or cap which gives you some protection.
They tend to be oered when people are frightened rates might soar.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
28
Martin’s Mortgage Moment
Choosing between xed and variable
A xed rate is an insurance policy against hikes and therefore gives peace of mind.
That has to be factored into the equation. Though how much that peace of mind
costs you is important too.
Yet a shock horror thought from the Money Saving Expert. Here, choosing a rate isn’t
purely about which is the cheapest.
Deciding whether to x is a question of weighing up how important certainty that
your repayments will stay the same is for you. I tend to think of this as a “how close to
the edge are you?” question.
Someone who feels they can only just aord their mortgage repayments should not be
gambling with interest rates. They’ll benet much more from a xed rate as it means
they’ll never be pushed over the brink by a rate increase during the term of the x.
Those with lots of spare cash over and above the mortgage may choose to head for a
discount or tracker, and take the gamble that it will work out cheaper in the long run.
Don’t look back in anger
I’m sure Oasis were writing about mortgages when they penned that famous line.
The truth is, the only way to truly know which mortgage deal is best is with an
accurate crystal ball, and they cost way more than a house.
So if you do decide to go for a xed rate on the basis of surety and later with
hindsight realise a discount rate would’ve been cheaper, this doesn’t mean it was the
wrong decision. If you needed surety, remember, you got it.
I think it’s time for an analogy
If I asked you to call heads or tails on a coin toss and said I’ll give you £100 if you win,
but you only need to pay me £1 if you lose, then provided you could aord to lose £1,
you’d be a fool not to do it.
While the bet itself doesn’t increase your chances of winning, the reward for winning
is much better than the cost of losing. So if when we actually tossed the coin you lost,
that doesn’t mean the bet was a bad one. Even though the outcome wasn’t what you
wanted, you made the best decision based on the knowledge you had at the time.
The same is true with xing your mortgage.
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 29
Choice 3: Do you want your mortgage to be flexible?
Once you’ve decided xed or variable, the next question is do you want a mortgage that is
more exible? This means getting functions that allow you to increase or decrease what you
repay — and overpaying is far more important than any other type of exibility.
Can you overpay?
The most popular exible feature is the ability to overpay, which just means paying back
more than you need to — whether that’s each month or just shoving a lump sum at your
mortgage from time to time. This can result in clearing the debt substantially quicker, so you
pay less interest overall.
The impact of this can be huge.
Loan: £150,000 over 25 years at 5%
Monthly payment: £880
Total amount repaid: £263,000
This means you paid £113,000 in interest. If you decided to, and were allowed to, overpay by
£100 a month, you’d repay the mortgage 4 years and 7 months quicker, saving £23,350 in
interest.
Use our special overpayment calculator at www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagecalc to
see the specic impact for you.
Luckily many standard mortgages allow you to make some form of overpayment, so ask. This
means you don’t always need something special (as special usually costs more).
However they restrict the amount of money you can overpay — typically 10% of the
outstanding mortgage per year or a xed maximum amount each month (do more and there
are harsh penalties).
Timing your overpayment
Mortgage companies calculate how much interest you owe on the debt at dierent times —
the vast majority do it daily, a few quarterly or yearly. You need to know how yours works so
you can time your extra payments.
With daily interest the timing doesn’t matter, you benet the next day, but it makes a huge
dierence if interest is charged annually — and middling if it’s monthly.
This is because mortgage overpayments will only count to reduce the interest you pay AFTER
the calculation is made. Put it in at the wrong time and you’ll miss out.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
30
Martin’s Mortgage Moment
Why overpaying pays so well
Money in savings usually earns far less than the interest on your mortgage costs you.
So it’s worth doing some simple maths.
Imagine you owed £10,000 on your mortgage charging 5% and had the same in
savings earning 2%. The mortgage debt costs you £500 in interest a year, while you
only gain £200 on your savings — and that’s before tax — making you at least £300 a
year better o using your savings to overpay the mortgage.
So it seems it’s a no-brainer to use your spare cash to pay down your mortgage
quicker. But there are a few spanners in the works.
• Are you allowed to overpay? Few mortgages allow unlimited overpayments, but
most at least allow 10% of the outstanding debt or £10,000 per year, so check. To
get unlimited overpayments, your interest rate will usually be higher.
• Do you have other debts? A crucial rule of debt repayments is: clear the most
expensive debts rst and by that, I mean the highest interest rates.
If you’ve credit cards and other personal loans they’re likely to have an even higher
interest rate than your mortgage (unless you’re a rate tart using 0% credit cards).
• Do you have a cash emergency fund? Unless you’ve a very exible mortgage
(more later), once you use money to overpay you can’t get it back. That’s a real
problem if you have an emergency and need it later.
So be slightly cautious with your overpayments, don’t do it to the brink. If you then
lost your job and couldn’t make the normal repayments, the fact you’d overpaid in
the past won’t stop you being in arrears.
This is why I suggest you should always keep an emergency fund that will tide you
over for three to six months.
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 31
Say the amount you’ll be paying in interest is worked out on 31 December, then you need
to make sure you pay the extra in before Christmas. Leave it until January and you lose the
benet of overpaying. You’ll still be charged interest as if you hadn’t made the overpayment
until next 31 December.
Does it have a ‘borrow back’ facility?
If you’re overpaying, a few mortgages will allow you to get the overpayments back if needed
— though they don’t always shout about it, making it a hidden bonus.
If it does then you can eectively use your mortgage as a high interest savings account. By
leaving money in it temporarily, the net eect is the same as earning interest tax-free at the
mortgage rate — very few savings accounts will beat that. However, if it’s at a much higher
rate, the increased cost on your debt may outweigh the savings gain.
Can you take payment holidays?
Here, the lender will allow you to simply stop paying it when you want. Yet be careful.
Lenders don’t let you play hooky from the goodness of their hearts.
You’ll pay for it as the interest continues to be added to your loan and you won’t be clearing
anything. Typically, borrowers taking a ‘holiday’ arrange to miss one or two payments, and
their monthly payments are recalculated to spread the cost of the missed payments over the
rest of the life of your loan — in other words, it’ll go up.
Some lenders insist you have overpaid before you can take a holiday. Plus there could also
be an extra penalty or administration charge on top. You can’t just decide to take a payment
holiday because your lender allows it. You have to arrange it with it rst — if you don’t, it will
impact your credit le and look like you’ve missed payments willy-nilly. Some lenders may still
put it on your credit le, so be careful.
Something a bit different — offsetting
So far, the focus has been on mortgages that are variations on a simple theme. You borrow
a set amount of money, you pay back a certain amount every month, and your debt is the
amount you borrowed minus the repayments you’ve made. So far, so straightforward.
However, for ultimate exibility there is a type of mortgage specically designed to allow you
to use it as a place to put your savings. These still come in variable or xed deals as described
above, but with a twist...
Offset mortgages
An oset keeps your mortgage and savings in separate pots with the same bank or building
society. But the big dierence is your cash is used to reduce — or ‘oset’ — your mortgage.
So, if you’ve a mortgage of £150,000 and savings of £15,000, then you only pay interest on
the dierence of £135,000.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
32
“If you put spare cash in an
oset mortgage, the eective
savings rate is huge.”
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 33
You still make the standard payment every month, but your savings act as an overpayment,
wiping out more of the interest every month, helping to clear the mortgage early. And as we
showed earlier, the quicker you pay it o, the less it costs you overall. The best point is your
savings can still be withdrawn whenever you want with no problem (but obviously then it no
longer osets your mortgage debt).
The eective savings rate is huge...
The interest earned on £15,000 in a normal savings account is usually taxed. Yet if you’ve
oset £15,000 against your mortgage, there’s no tax to pay on the gain you make from lower
interest payments. Plus, the mortgage rate is likely to be higher than what you’d earn in a
savings account so you’re best o paying less interest on the mortgage.
If you’re a basic-rate taxpayer, using an oset to reduce a mortgage with interest at 5%,
means you’d need a normal savings account paying 6.25% to beat it. For a higher-rate
taxpayer 8.33%, for a top-rate 9.1%.
Is it worth it?
Many people get very excited by the idea of oset, but hold your horses. The problem is
osets are usually at a higher rate than standard mortgages.
Think about it. If you’ve a £200,000 mortgage, while getting a better rate on £20,000 of
savings is nice, you don’t want to pay a worse rate on the remaining £180,000 debt. So in the
main, unless the oset is really cheap, only those who’ll be osetting a substantial amount of
savings should bother.
Even then, you could just get a smaller normal mortgage and borrow less or overpay.
Current account mortgages
Here, as it says on the tin, your mortgage is combined with your current account, so you’ve
one balance. This type of mortgage used to be far more common than it is now.
So if you have £2,000 in your current account and a mortgage of £90,000, then you are
eectively £88,000 overdrawn. The debt is smallest just after your salary is paid in, and it
then creeps up throughout the month as you spend your salary.
You make a standard payment every month which is designed to clear your mortgage
over the term you have chosen. The extra money oating around in your account is like an
overpayment, which should mean you pay the loan o much more quickly.
Any extra cash savings can be added to reduce the balance further. Many people liked the
idea but didn’t like constantly seeing a debt gure in their bank account.
The additional benet of the current account element compared to an oset is often
overstressed though. Unless you have big bonuses or earn and spend a huge amount each
month, it’s a tiny gain compared to an oset — and the costs of these mortgages are often
much more.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 4
34
CHAPTER 4
MoneySavingExpert.com 35
Watch out for early repayment charges
If you think about it, a xed or discount deal is a special oer — a reduced rate
from the lender in the hope that once that cheap price ends, you’ll stick with it and
pay more. More so, if it gives you a xed deal and rates drop, it doesn’t want you
just leaving it, you took that gamble and it wants you to stick.
To ensure this many lenders levy what are called early repayment charges. In other
words, if you try to repay and switch to a new mortgage or sometimes just overpay
by too much during the special oer period you’ll have to pay a hefty ne. It can be
1%-5% of the amount you pay o early.
Consider if you were to clear a £150,000 mortgage early.
1% charge = £1,500
5% charge = £7,500
What a cheek! Even overpaying by £1,000 could cost you £10 – £50 for the privilege.
But not every deal has a redemption penalty. You can often overpay without being
stung and in very few cases you can even nd xed rates that let you out for free.
Therefore if you’re signing up to a deal you need to be sure it’s right for you as you
can’t change your mind.
Am I free to move after the deal ends?
Once your xed or discount deal ends, in most cases you are free, and we’d encourage you
to consider switching deal. That’s because you’ll be shifted on to the standard variable rate,
which traditionally was always expensive.
In recent times, some lenders’ SVRs have been quite decent, so it’s not always worth
switching. Still, good practice is a few months before your special oer ends start looking to
see if you can get a cheaper remortgage deal (remortgaging just means switching mortgage)
as for every 1% interest you cut per £100,000 of mortgage that’s at least £60 a month saved.
Full help in our remortgaging guide at www.moneysavingexpert.com/remortgage-guide.
The one warning is that a few lenders do levy what are called ‘extended redemption
penalties’. These last even after the special oer period. They are few and far between, but
do check, and try to avoid.
What happens if I need to move house within the mortgage term?
Many mortgages are now ‘portable’ (check yours), so moving home doesn’t have to involve a
new deal, which can be important if you have redemption penalties. Though again, not all will
let you, so check.
However, if you need additional funding, be careful to choose the right product so that the
end dates of your existing scheme and new scheme are similar, enabling you to move both
mortgages, if necessary, to secure a better rate. Having no penalties on the top-up sum can
often be a good policy.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 5
36
“You’ll need cast-iron
proof of your income,
which isn’t easy.”
CHAPTER 6
MoneySavingExpert.com 37
Mortgages for the self-employed / contract workers
If you’re self-employed or would struggle to prove your long-term income — perhaps you’ve
worked abroad or you are on a temporary contract — then getting a mortgage is tough. You’ll
need cast-iron proof of your income, which isn’t easy.
What you’ll need to get a mortgage
You’ll need rigorous evidence of your income. This is usually done in one of two formats.
• Business accounts. You want to be able to show preferably three years of accounts —
though two can suce. Usually, they need to be signed o by a chartered or certied
accountant.
• Tax returns. If you can’t show business accounts then two or three years’ tax returns are
the next best option.
Do note you’ll be assessed on prots, not turnover. And as many company owners try
to minimise declared prots to pay less tax, this means it could be harder to get a larger
mortgage.
If this is likely to be a complex process then often using a mortgage broker (see chapter 7)
will help the process as they’ll know which mortgage lenders require what evidence.
While this can work for those in established businesses, to be brutally realistic, it could mean
those who have recently started working for themselves will simply not be able to get a
mortgage. Alternatively, if you’re self-employed and your partner isn’t, it may be only their
income that counts.
Some people may tell you about ‘self-cert mortgages’ where borrowers could simply declare
how much they earned without having to prove it. Dubbed ‘liar loans’, they were abused by
some borrowers and brokers, leading to people borrowing more than they could aord and,
in the worst cases, fraud. Self-cert mortgages were banned in April 2014.
Don’t forget the fees
Before rushing ahead with your mortgage application, stop and look at the fees. Fees have
shot up. In fact, they’ve tripled over the last decade and can add £2,000 or more to the cost of
your mortgage.
So you need to do your sums to take into account the full costs of buying a house and taking
out a mortgage.
You can try to minimise these — and some lenders will give you help towards them — but
you can’t magic them away. To make matters worse there are a host of fees given dierent
names by dierent lenders, making them harder to compare.
If you can aord it, keep back some of the money from your deposit to cover these costs. It’s
a good idea to add the fees to your mortgage loan if you can, so you don’t lose any money if
the mortgage doesn’t go ahead.
Realistically, you might have to add them to your mortgage anyway if you can’t spare the
upfront funds. But remember, that’s expensive as you’ll be paying interest on the money for
the length of the loan.
If you are allowed to make overpayments once the mortgage is set up, adding them on and
then immediately paying them is the best route.
• Arrangement fee. This is the highest charge by far — apart from potentially stamp duty,
depending on the price of your home — and has risen sharply in recent years. In the rst
incarnation of this guide in 2004 we warned they could be as high as £500. Now in some
cases, they can be around £2,000.
Even worse are percentage fees, especially if you’re taking out a large mortgage. These
can be as much as 1.5%-2% of the loan. On a £200,000 mortgage, that would be £3,000-
£4,000. Ouch! In the worst cases this is non-refundable if you pay upfront, even if the
house purchase falls through, which is fairly common.
So you actually need to look at the arrangement fee as part of the price of a mortgage. For
mortgages under £150,000, the fee is a disproportionately large cost. It’s often cheaper to
go for a deal with a higher interest rate and lower fee.
Therefore, you always need to do a calculation incorporating both. Generally the best way
is to factor in the fee over the life of the x or the discount (ie, two or ve years). It’s easy
to do with our mortgage calculator at www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagecalc.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 6
38
CHAPTER 6
MoneySavingExpert.com 39
Price brackets Stamp duty
Up to £125,000 0%
£125,001 – £250,000 2%
£250,001 – £925,000 5%
£925,001 – £1,500,000 10%
£1,500,001 and above 12%
Price of property Stamp duty
£99,000 £0
£200,000 £1,500
£350,000 £7,500
£600,000 £20,000
£1,250,000 £68,750
£2,500,000 £213,750
Stamp duty % Stamp duty £
Stamp Duty in England, Wales & Northern Ireland
The amount of stamp duty land tax — to give it its full name — you’ll pay depends on the
price of the property. Sweeping changes to stamp duty were announced in the Chancellor’s
Autumn Statement in December 2014, getting rid of the unfair slab system where you’d pay
a single rate on the ENTIRE property. Now you’ll only pay the rate for the proportion of the
property that’s at that rate.
Price brackets Stamp duty
Up to £145,000 0%
£145,001 – £250,000 2%
£250,001 – £325,000 5%
£325,001 – £750,000 10%
£750,001 and above 12%
Price of property Stamp duty
£99,000 £0
£200,000 £1,100
£350,000 £8,350
£600,000 £33,350
£1,250,000 £108,350
£2,500,000 £258,350
Stamp duty % Stamp duty £
Stamp Duty in Scotland
It’s not actually called stamp duty in Scotland anymore. A reform brought in by the Scottish
Government in April 2015 means it’s now referred to as ‘Land and Buildings Transaction Tax’.
Sadly for rst-time buyers in Scotland the new stamp duty relief doesn’t apply.
It’s a remarkably similar system to the one rest of the UK uses, the main dierence is the
thresholds it uses are at dierent rates.
• Booking or reservation fee. A few lenders also charge a separate reservation fee to
secure a xed-rate, tracker or discount deal. This costs about £100-£200, is always payable
upfront and is non-refundable. Other lenders roll this charge into the arrangement fee, so
don’t be surprised if it’s not mentioned.
• Valuation fee. This covers the cost of an inspection of your new home.
This checks a) the property exists and b) estimates a value to reassure the lender that it
can get a decent price if you miss payments and it repossesses and then sells your home
to recover the debt.
The cost of the valuation depends on the property’s value, and your lender, but assume
it’ll be about £250. This is not to be confused with a survey, which is optional but advisable
(especially if you’re buying an old property). While a valuation is for the lender’s benet,
a survey is a more thorough check-up of the property for your benet. It can spot things
such as damp or structural problems and costs between £400-£700.
Special rule in Scotland. Here, the seller must provide a copy of a Home Report which
includes a survey, valuation, energy report and property questionnaire. Before you spend
unnecessary money on another survey, check the one in the Home Report. If it’s dated
within the last 12 weeks (or if the seller is willing to get it updated), your lender may accept
a retype of the valuation (if the surveyor is on the lender’s panel they can retype the
valuation on to paper specically designed for that lender).
Outside Scotland, the seller needs to provide an Energy Performance Certicate — the
band it is in (A – G) will go on the estate agent’s details.
• Legal fees. Paid to your solicitor, this covers the cost of all the legal work associated with
buying a home such as conveyancing and searches of local authority data to check for
hidden nasties such as poor drainage. If you have to pay for your conveyancing you’re
looking at £500-£1,500.
• Stamp duty. This goes to the Government and won’t be included even if your lender will
cover legal fees. Occasionally lenders have short-term special oers when they’ll pay it —
usually for rst-time buyers — and some developers oer to pay it if you buy one of their
new-build homes.
For more info, including special reductions in certain areas and our full Stamp Duty
Calculator, see www.moneysavingexpert.com/stampduty
NEW. Stamp duty abolished for some rst-time buyers. Following the Autumn 2017
Budget announcement, ALL rst-time buyers will now be exempt from stamp duty on the
rst £300,000 of homes worth up to £500,000. This does not apply to rst-time buyers in
Scotland. If a rst time buyer buys a property worth more than £500,000, the new relief will
not apply, and they will have to pay stamp duty like everyone else.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 7
40
How to get a mortgage
OK, so now you’re getting down to the nitty-gritty of actually picking a mortgage. The choice
is overwhelming.
Before we get into how you get a mortgage, there are two key questions many people ask
before they start searching...
• What comes rst: the mortgage or the property?
You need a property before a formal mortgage application. Lenders rely on the property you
buy as security if you later can’t aord to pay. So you need a property in place, with an oer
accepted, before applying in full.
That said, you can still get an idea of what you can borrow beforehand by telling your lender
or broker your income and other basic details to get an ‘agreement in principle’ (see below). It
will conrm if it won’t lend to you, but a yes doesn’t guarantee it will as there are still plenty of
hurdles to jump.
• A mortgage agreement in principle — do I need it?
In a word, no. A mortgage in principle is a conditional oer saying you may be accepted,
based on a quick check of your income and, possibly, your credit le. In a heated property
market, you are highly likely to be asked for one by a vendor (via an agent) before they will
accept an oer. In addition, for rst-time buyers, it boosts condence that they’ll be accepted.
But it oers no guarantees.
Do beware. Too many of these checks in a short space of time could harm your credit rating.
This could damage your mortgage application later down the line — many lenders will run
a credit check, leaving a mark on your le. Some oer a ‘soft’ credit check, which won’t be
visible, as a far better option. So nd out which it is before agreeing to one.
Now... here’s how you get that mortgage
Below, we list your options, such as using comparison tables or a broker. One thing you
denitely must NOT do is only rely on your bank or building society. Of course you can
check out what it’s oering but that’ll only be a tiny smidgen of the products available in the
mortgage market.
CHAPTER 7
MoneySavingExpert.com 41
Martin’s Mortgage Moment
Mortgage brokers can make it easier and faster
Just going to your existing bank or building society means you’ll only be oered its
products – nothing wrong with that as a benchmark, but you really want to get the
best deal from across the market.
That’s where a good mortgage broker can help. I often favour sorting your nances
out yourself. But as mortgages are such a big single transaction, getting professional
help can be a boon.
A broker should be able to quickly source a relevant product that ts your credit
history, oer an extra layer of protection if things go wrong, and carry more clout
with lenders to ease acceptance on otherwise unobtainable mortgages.
There are also some lenders that only work with brokers, and some broker-exclusive
deals from lenders that are simply not available to individual customers; these are
rare, but can be market-leading.
Using a broker
What is a broker?
A broker is simply a qualied and regulated mortgage adviser.
As there’s a mass of choice and deals can disappear fast, using a broker is a good idea for
many people.
Quite simply, they save you trawling through deal after deal to nd the cheapest one for your
circumstances. Of course, you don’t have to use one. If you’re condent and prepared to do the
work and research yourself then you can go it alone — and we’ve guidance on how to do that.
However, brokers do have some advantages...
Residential mortgage brokers are strictly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Yet beware. Not all mortgage brokers are equal.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 7
42
The key questions to ask a broker
To ensure you pick a good broker, ask the following questions:
1. “Do you check all the lenders?”
Some mortgage brokers are tied to one or a small panel and we’d dodge those.
The real choice is between one who checks all the lenders that work with brokers (these used
to be known as ‘whole of market’) and ones that check all those plus the few extra ‘direct-
only’ deals that brokers can’t set up for you.
The rst type has the advantage that some of them (mainly working by phone rather than
face-to-face) are fees-free, including London & Country, this guide’s sponsor. For the second
type, while you pay, you get a belt and braces service, so every possible deal is looked at.
If you do go for the ‘fee-free’ option, which we’ll show you in a few pages, then if you’re
condent enough, you can quickly check the direct-only deals yourself if you like.
CHAPTER 7
MoneySavingExpert.com 43
2. “How will you make your money?”
As mentioned earlier, brokers can make money in two ways:
- Receiving a procuration fee from the lender. This is roughly £350 per £100,000 of
mortgage. It doesn’t aect what you pay.
- Charging you a broker fee. If your broker does charge you a fee, this can be anywhere
between £300 and £1,000 (don’t pay more — some do it via a percentage of loan value, if
that’s too high, avoid).
While it’s legal for them to do so, we’d avoid any broker that charges upfront or even
before you complete your mortgage. In other words, don’t pay unless you get the
mortgage.
Don’t think just because a broker’s charging you, it won’t be getting a fee from a lender. If
the total fee from you and the lender is over £800 and it’s not complicated by issues such
as your credit history not tting, there may be room to haggle. And as the lender fee is
usually a percentage of the loan amount, that really means haggling on bigger mortgages.
Mortgage brokers are regulated by the FCA, so the fact they earn commission shouldn’t
inuence their recommendation. The advice should be genuinely unbiased. If you’re not sure,
ask the broker to explain what they based the recommendation on. If you’re not convinced,
get a second opinion.
For a full rundown of top brokers, see www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagebrokers.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 7
44
3. “Are you qualied?”
Make sure you’re getting advice from a qualied adviser (the most recognised qualication
is called CeMAP). They will assess your needs and eligibility before recommending the most
suitable product for you. This route also oers the most protection for you as a consumer.
If the advice turns out to be wrong, the Financial Ombudsman will be able to investigate any
wrongdoing. But if you choose a product yourself online, you’ll have no comeback if you
make the wrong choice.
How to find a broker
For our updated guide to the cheapest big national brokers, see
www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagebrokers.
But there are lots of extremely good local brokers and if you choose one carefully using the
earlier questions, you should get decent face-to-face service. If that’s your chosen route, and
you don’t know one, you can check www.unbiased.co.uk or www.vouchedfor.co.uk to nd
one in your local area.
On the other hand, the big brokers boast greater market power and sometimes negotiate
exclusive deals for their customers with lenders. They are independent of the lenders. If they
charge a fee and are going to be paid commission on top by the bank or building society you
go with, ask if they’ll rebate some of it back to you.
Here are the steps to getting a mortgage with a broker:
Step 1 Choose a broker. You should be told explicitly what advice will cost at what stage
and how you’ll be expected to pay.
Step 2 Discuss your circumstances with the broker. They’ll recommend a deal.
Step 3 Check direct-only deals. See if you can beat your broker with deals they can’t
access. If you can, discuss it with your broker.
Step 4 Select a mortgage/accept the broker’s recommendation. The broker should
recommend a mortgage deal that meets your requirements.
Step 5 You (if you go direct) or your broker will make the application to the lender.
Step 6 Valuation and legal work. This should take anywhere from one to three months.
Step 7 Completion.
CHAPTER 7
MoneySavingExpert.com 45
Martin’s Mortgage Moment
Always check non-broker deals too
There are deals that brokers can’t access, because lenders cut them out by oering
them direct to consumers only or not paying commission. If you’re paying a large fee
then you should ask your broker if they will check these deals for you too. If not, you
need to check these deals yourself.
The big lenders doing this are First Direct, Yorkshire Building Society and Co-
operative Bank. They can oer some very competitive deals and are always worth
checking, but they do tend to cherry-pick the best credit scorers and reject many
applicants.
Some lenders which do oer deals through brokers sometimes restrict certain deals
to direct-only customers. Any company may decide to do this from time to time.
So for belt and braces, as well as using a broker, it’s also worth using MSE’s Mortgage
Best Buy too (www.moneysavingexpert.com/bestbuys), which also lists direct-only
deals — just in case there’s a mortgage there that suits you. There’s then nothing
wrong with telling your broker you’ve spotted it and asking for their views.
As a nal thought, it is a worry that some lenders occasionally try to cut out the broker
market. Many people go ahead in getting a mortgage knowing very little (without reading a
guide like this) and brokers at least stop people making mistakes. Far better in my view that
there’s an active, regulated, broker market to help.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 7
46
Going solo
If you’re condent you know what you want, there’s nothing to stop you getting a mortgage
on your own. Though as explained above, most people are better o using a broker.
As a start point, you can use MSE’s Best Buy tool (www.moneysavingexpert.com/bestbuys)
to compare rates.
Newspapers also regularly publish best buy tables. Beware — tables often don’t include all
the fees you’ll have to pay, and these can make as much dierence as the interest you’ll pay.
Step 1 Select the mortgage deal or deals you fancy. Get detailed quotes from the lender(s).
Step 2 Add up all the fees to get a gure for the total cost.
Step 3 Work out the cost over a set period — the length of the xed or variable rate
deal, or the life of the mortgage.
Step 4 Before you apply, contact the lender to see if you and the property are eligible.
For example, check if your income is sucient and it’ll lend on the property you want
to buy (some don’t like high-rises or homes near shops).
Step 5 If you decide to go ahead, apply to the new lender. Often, this can be done over
the telephone or internet.
Step 6 Valuation and legal work. This should take between one to three months.
Step 7 Completion.
Personalised mortgage best buys
We’ve created a mortgage best buys table which compares thousands
of mortgages in one place. Try it and let us know what you think.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/bestbuys
CHAPTER 8
MoneySavingExpert.com 47
Watch out for the hard sell on...
As the mortgage market has developed, some lenders — and brokers — try to make more
money elsewhere in the mortgage process. So be prepared for the hard sell on the following…
Mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI)
This is a form of accident, sickness and unemployment insurance (ASU). MPPI is supposed to
cover your mortgage payments if you have an accident, become ill and can’t work, or, you’re
made redundant.
There is limited help from the Government in these circumstances but, at best, it will only
cover your interest. Plus, what help you get will hinge on whether repossession is imminent,
or if you’re simply struggling a bit to cover costs. So it’s sensible to consider, before you take
out a mortgage, how you would manage to meet your repayments in these events.
MPPI isn’t a bad policy but it can be quite pricey and has been mis-sold in the past to people
who couldn’t actually claim on it. This can happen because the insurer didn’t carry out any
checks when you rst applied, it only checked when you went to make a claim.
Be extra careful if you are self-employed, have any reason to suspect you might be made
redundant or have any existing medical conditions.
If you do decide to take out an MPPI policy, check carefully:
• That it will pay out if you claim
• When it will pay (you may have to wait several weeks before the policy kicks in)
• How much it will pay and for how long (it’ll usually only cover your mortgage repayments
for 12 or 24 months)
Buying MPPI from your mortgage broker
Be careful when buying from your mortgage broker here. It may not be able to get you the
best priced policy and it is quite common for a broker to oer mortgages from all lenders but
then be tied to a single, or small panel of insurers.
Read more on our MPPI guide at
http://mse.me/mortgageppi.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 8
48
CHAPTER 9
MoneySavingExpert.com 49
Bundled buildings / contents insurance
All lenders insist you take out buildings insurance (if you’re buying a freehold property).
But be very suspicious of deals which insist you buy your buildings insurance through your
lender, though be aware that some lenders levy a fee of around £30 if you decline to take
their insurance.
If you go elsewhere for your home cover, some seriously cheap deals are possible. By using
cashback incentives some people have even been PAID to take out insurance.
See www.moneysavingexpert.com/homeinsurance.
Life cover from your mortgage seller
Would you ask the man who sold you a computer to be your fashion stylist? No, so don’t
assume just because someone sold you one nancial product they’ll automatically get you a
good deal on extra bits such as life cover or other insurance.
Buying your rst home is probably the rst time you’ve thought about life insurance, but
don’t rush in and grab the rst one oered to you. In some cases you can save 50% on the
life cover sold by your lender or broker.
For a full guide on how to nd the cheapest cover, see
www.moneysavingexpert.com/lifeinsurance.
First Time Buyers’ quick Q&A
A few nal questions some of you may have:
Q. Will the lender lend on my property?
A. Just because you qualify for a mortgage based on your nances doesn’t mean you’ll get it.
The lender also needs to be comfortable with the property you’re buying. Some, for example,
won’t lend on homes near commercial premises, without a working kitchen or bathroom
(even if you plan to refurbish), in a high rise, on a council estate, or if it doesn’t like the
material used to construct the building.
So declare EVERYTHING on day one of your application so you don’t waste valuable time,
and really interrogate the lender to ensure it has no restrictions which could kibosh your
application.
A good broker can be worth their weight in gold here, as they should know which lenders are
more likely to grant a mortgage based on your property.
Q. What paperwork will I need?
A. Before you start, gather everything you could possibly need, but double-check with a
lender or broker as early as possible so you don’t waste any time in the application process
while waiting for key paperwork to arrive.
You typically need:
• Proof of income (often last three months’ pay slips or 2/3 years’ accounts if
self employed).
• Proof of deposit (plus written conrmation from donor — typically parents — if getting a
gift towards the deposit that it really is a gift & not a loan).
• Your last three months’ bank statements.
• Proof of bonuses/commission.
• Your latest P60 tax form (showing your income and tax paid from each tax year).
• SA302 tax return forms, mainly for the self-employed. These are copies of your self-
assessment tax return, which lenders may want to see. These can take weeks to get
from HMRC so be prepared well in advance.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 9
50
CHAPTER 9
MoneySavingExpert.com 51
Q. What is the mortgage APR?
A. All lenders have to tell you their APR and do so prominently. This is rather annoying as
it’s a rate in most cases you’ll never have to pay and is meaningless — that’s why we haven’t
really referred to it here.
The APR shows you the eective averaged annual interest rate if you held your mortgage for
the entire term (normally 25 years).
Therefore, if you had a xed rate at 3.49% for 2 years and then the SVR afterwards was
4.74%, the APR would be around 4.3%.
So why do we say it’s mostly meaningless?
• You never pay 4.3%; it’s an averaged rate over the entire term.
• You’re likely to remortgage long before the term ends.
• The SVR is a variable rate so is likely to move anyway.
What you really need to focus on is the initial discount/xed rate, the fees and the rate it goes
to afterwards.
Q. How long should I set the term for?
A. The term of the mortgage is an often-overlooked factor. Most people plump for 25
years. However there are a few factors to take into account.
• How old will you be when the term ends? Many lenders won’t allow you to take it into
your retirement period. This is probably good for you too — as you have to question if
could you keep up with the repayments.
• The longer it is, the more you pay. Lengthening the term to, say, 30 years means you
pay less each month, but you pay more interest in total. Shortening the term is a bit
like overpaying, it’s far cheaper if you’ve got the cash. However, if the mortgage allows
you to overpay, better to keep the mortgage long to give yourself exibility, then make
overpayments. The graphs below shows that when you lengthen the term, you pay less
per month but much more overall.
Q. How do mortgages for couples work?
A. Most couples buy a property jointly and both their names go on the mortgage and
deeds. So you’re both responsible for the mortgage payments. If you split up and can’t decide
how to divide up the property’s value, the courts will decide for you.
But you don’t have to buy it jointly. A little-known way is ‘tenants in common’. This lays down
who owns what proportion of the property — say 50/50 — then if you break up or one of you
dies, it’s clear who owns what.
It’s possible to buy it in just one name, but the named person is responsible for the mortgage
and the other person’s income won’t be taken into account when working out how much you
can borrow.
Q. Can I leave my property and rent it out to someone else?
A. Yes, but you have to get permission from your lender rst before renting it out, called
‘consent to let’. In most cases you’ll be able to keep your mortgage. However, the lender
may increase the rate, or you’ll be told to move to a buy-to-let mortgage, which is typically
more expensive.
MoneySavingExpert.com
CHAPTER 10
52
This guide is sponsored by L&C, the UK’s leading fee-free
mortgage broker. Over 1 million people have come to L&C for
expert mortgage advice. Unlike many other mortgage brokers,
we charge no fee for our expert advice and advisers are
available to help you over the phone 7 days a week.
Our dedication to providing customers with a rst class
mortgage service has helped us win over 140 awards since
2002, more than any other mortgage broker. In fact, we’ve
won the most prestigious awards in the mortgage industry on
numerous occasions.
We also provide expert comment about the mortgage market
and best buy tables for national press, TV and radio.
For fee free advice about the best mortgage for you, call L&C
on:
0800 694 0444
Or request a call back at www.landc.co.uk/ml/mortgage-guide
A message from the sponsor:
Happy hunting
Right, that’s it. You’ve made it until the end. Bravo!
Yet getting your rst mortgage — or even your second or third — is not the end of the story.
Your circumstances may change — the deals available will certainly not stay the same. It’s
perfectly possible that today’s perfect t mortgage will be woefully out of shape in two or
three years.
So, it’s important to keep your eye on the ball — especially if you’ve chosen a deal which
runs for a set period of time. Put a note in your calendar a couple of months before your
time is up. Don’t ignore it. Use it as a prompt to look again at your situation and research the
market. And make sure that once you’ve tracked down the best deal, you take it.
I hope this guide has helped — if there’s anything you think we’re missing for future guides,
do let us know via www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgagefeedback.
Happy hunting
I hope you save some money.
MoneySavingExpert.com
