Mortgages
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What is a Mortgage?

A mortgage is a sum of money borrowed from a bank or building society in order to purchase a property. The money is then paid back to the Lender over a fixed period of time together with accrued interest. There are many different types of mortgages and there will be one out there that best suits you.

Types of Mortgage

There are essentially two different types of mortgage:

• Repayment only, (capital and interest mortgage)
• Interest only, (ISA, pension or endowment mortgage)

REPAYMENT ONLY
Your monthly repayments consist of repaying the capital amount borrowed together with accrued interest. On your mortgage statement, normally received annually, you will see that the amount borrowed decreases throughout the term.

INTEREST ONLY
With this type of mortgage, only the interest is paid off with each mortgage payment. The borrower also takes out at the same time, an alternative ‘repayment vehicle’ (method of paying off the mortgage) such as an ISA, pension plan or endowment policy. More information about endowments (which in the 1980’s and 1990’s were extremely popular), ISAs and Pension plans are below. The most important fact about an interest only mortgage is that the monthly repayments do not repay any of the outstanding capital balance. As a consequence it is important that the payments are maintained into the repayment vehicle otherwise it will not be possible to pay off the mortgage at the end of the term.

Interest Rates on a Mortgage

When you have chosen the right mortgage for you, whether it be a repayment or an interest only mortgage, you will need to consider the 4 main mortgage rate options available.

• Fixed
• Capped
• Discount
• Variable
• Fixed Rate Mortgage

The amount you repay the lender each month can be at a fixed interest rate for a certain period of time, regardless of the interest rate in the market place. It is common for lenders to offer rates fixed for a period of 2 to 5 years, but shorter and longer periods can be found in the market. At the end of the fixed rate (or ‘benefit’) period the rate will normally convert to the lenders Standard Variable Rate (SVR).

It is normal for lenders to charge up-front fees in the form of booking and/or arrangement fees. In addition lenders frequently apply an Early Redemption Charge (ERC) for fixed rate mortgages. This acts as a ‘lock-in’ making an often heavy charge for borrowers paying off their mortgage early. Watch out – the ERC can sometimes last longer than the fixed rate period e.g. a 3 year fixed rate with a 5 year ERC.

CAPPED RATE MORTGAGE
A capped rate mortgage is very similar to a fixed except that if the variable rate drops below the capped rate, the borrower will make payments based on the lower variable rate. However should rates increase the payments will be ‘capped’ and will not rise over the capped rate. So as a rough ‘rule of thumb’ a capped rate is better to have than a fixed if all other factors are equal. Again, as with fixed rates, up-front charges and ‘lock-ins’ are common.

DISCOUNTED RATE MORTGAGE
The Lender offers a discount on the Standard Variable Rate (SVR) for a specific period of time. For example, the variable rate may be 5% with a discount of 1.5%. The initial pay rate would therefore be 3.5%. If the variable rate rose to say, 6%, then the rate payable would rise to 4.5%. As the discount is linked to the standard variable rate, the borrowers payments will increase, if rates rise – so there is no certainty in budgeting. However should rates decrease the borrower will benefit from lower payments.

It is still possible to have up-front charges for discounted products and an Early Redemption Charge is common.

With discount mortgages borrowers need to watch out for ‘payment shock’. Some short term discount products offer a ‘deep discount’ e.g. 4% off for 1 year. In such circumstances the borrower will be facing a significant increase in their monthly mortgage payment at the end of the discount benefit period.

VARIABLE RATE MORTGAGE
Borrowers paying the Standard Variable Rate will have their payments increase or decrease as the lender adjusts the rate in accordance with market conditions.

Mortgages
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Mortgages
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