Mortgage Deals
Finding you the best deals for you mortgage
Remortgaging
Looking for a better deal?
Home improvements?
Paying off other debts?
Buying a property
Moving home
First time buyers
Buy-to-let purchase
A simple guide to mortgages broken down into easy to digest sections.
No matter if you’re a first time buyer or a portfolio landlord – you’ve come to right place. Do you have the belief that it can be hard to get a mortgage? Thankfully, our specialist mortgage team will find you the best mortgage deals – whatever your situation.
Throughout this website, our expert team have provided plenty of useful mortgage information that is easy to digest. It can work as a simple guide to the different types of mortgages we can help with. You’ll find lots of handy hits and tips on the mortgage process.
More importantly, you will discover the different circumstances where our expert mortgage team help people get mortgages. As specialist mortgage advisors, we can find the right mortgage deal for you. We may still be able to help you even if you’ve been declined previously. Mortgages in complicated situations are our speciality.
Some basic information about mortgages
- Firstly, let’s explain more about mortgages.
- What is the difference between a purchase mortgage and a remortgage?
- What is equity in a house?
- Loan to value explained?
- How long can a mortgage deal be?
- How do I pay back a mortgage?
- What is a repayment mortgage?
- Interest only mortgages explained
- Is it possible to overpay on a mortgage to pay it off faster?
- Can you get a mortgage if you have had credit problems in the past?
- What’s the easiest way to be sure of getting the right mortgage deal for
Firstly, let’s explain more about mortgages
A mortgage is basically a loan used to buy property (or land). A mortgage is secured against the property until the debt has been repaid in full. This means that the property or land secured against the mortgage may be at risk if you are ever unable to keep up repayments on the mortgage. You could end up defaulting on the mortgage agreement if you continuously miss mortgage payments . At this point, a mortgage provider can repossess the security property and sell it to recoup outstanding mortgage.
What is the difference between a purchase mortgage and a remortgage?
What is equity in a house?
Equity: £25,000
Loan to value: 75%
Loan to value explained
You might have heard of the term ‘loan to value’. But what does it actually mean? The term ‘loan to value’ is referring to the size of the mortgage in relation to the value of the property. If we refer to the example above, you can see that loan to value to always stated as a percentage (%).
How long can a mortgage deal be?
The maximum and minimum term of a mortgage will vary between mortgage providers. Your age can also effect the mortgage term. It may be possible to take a mortgage as long as 40 years depending on your age. However, many lenders will restrict the overall mortgage term to age 70. Thankfully, there are also mortgage providers that are happy for a mortgage to go until age 75, and in some cases even longer than that.
How do I pay back a mortgage?
There are primarily two different repayment types with regards to mortgages.
- Repayment – where the balance of the mortgage will paid off
- Interest only – where you only pay the interest charged each month and do not actually pay off the mortgage
What is a repayment mortgage?
The goal of a repayment mortgage is to ensure the mortgage debt is repaid. Regular monthly payments that consist of ‘capital and interest’ make this happen. As you can no doubt appreciate, when you borrow money on a mortgage, interest is payable on that debt. ‘Capital and interest’ means you not only pay the interest charge, but you also pay off a chunk of the capital each month. This means that over a period of time you are able to reduce the balance of the mortgage. Eventually, so long as you maintain the monthly payments, you should be able to pay off the mortgage balance in full.
Interest only mortgages explained
If you consider how a repayment mortgage works, you can probably guess how an interest only mortgage works. As the name suggests, you only pay the interest charged on the mortgage debt. There is no payment to reduce the capital. As a result, the monthly payments on interest only mortgages are typically much lower. However, this also means that the mortgage balance does not reduce. Be aware, at the end of the mortgage term the balance will still need to be repaid. You may need to sell the house to pay off the mortgage if there is no other strategy to pay off the mortgage balance .
Is it possible to overpay on a mortgage to pay it off faster?
Most mortgage lenders will allow you to make overpayments on a mortgage. This makes it possible to repay the mortgage ahead of schedule. Typically, the maximum you can overpay each year is 10% of the mortgage balance without incurring a penalty*. Even a small regular overpayment can have a significant impact on the mortgage term.
*In order to avoid penalty charges, always check with your mortgage provider if you are allowed to make over payments.
Is it possible to get a mortgage if you have had credit problems in the past?
Yes – it is possible to get a mortgage if you have had credit problems in the past. Examples of poor credit could be missed payments, defaults, CCJs, or even bankruptcies. If you have any doubt about your credit status you should register with a credit reference website like Experian, Equifax, Clearscore, or Credit Karma. Speak to a mortgage expert if you any historical credit issues.
What’s the easiest way to be sure you are getting the right mortgage deal for you?
You could research the mortgage market yourself. However, it would probably take a very long time to manually search each mortgage lenders details. Especially if you have a more complex situation. A specialist mortgage broker will be able to find you the right mortgage deal for you and your circumstances. Saving you a lot of time, and possibly a lot of money in the process.
Some examples of different mortgages situations are below:
- Self employed mortgages – even with only 1 years accounts?
- Mortgages for contractors – how to get mortgage if you are contractor
- Income stretch for affordability – is it possible to borrow more than you have been told elsewhere?
- Home improvements when remortgaging – need to borrow extra cash for home improvements?
- Borrowing extra money to pay off other debts – can you remortgage to consolidate other debts?
- Using equity for business purpose – can you remortgage for business purpose?
- New job – how to get a mortgage with a new job, even before you’ve started the job
- Taking the term of your mortgage into retirement – can a mortgage term go beyond your retirement age?
- Poor credit score – is it possible to get a mortgage with a low credit score?
- Bad credit history – can you get a mortgage with bad credit?
- Defaults or CCJ’s – how to get a mortgage with defaults or CCJ’s
- Buy to let mortgages for portfolio landlords – how we can help landlords with multiple properties
- BTL with low personal income – can you get a buy to let mortgage with little or no personal income?
- Interest only mortgages – is it possible to get an interest only mortgage?
- First time landlords for buy to let mortgages – how to get your first buy to let mortgage
- Flats above commercial units
- Studio flats with small surface area – specialist mortgages that other lenders may have declined
- Expats based anywhere in the world
- Commercial property mortgages – how to get a commercial mortgage
As a mortgage is secured against your home, it could be repossessed if you do not keep up the mortgage repayments