FAQ

It is important to get impartial advice so that you are given the option of being able to consider the whole mortgage market place and all the mortgage options available to you.

As we are not tied to any bank or building society and give totally impartial advice, we can work with you to get the right mortgage to suit your unique personal circumstances.

Buying your first property and choosing the right mortgage can be rather daunting, so contact us and we'll advise you on the mortgage options available to you.

But in the meantime, we hope you find the following information useful.

The amount of mortgage you can get depends on your income.

Income multiples do vary. As a rough guide, a typical multiple is four times your income. This figure could be higher or lower depending upon your individual circumstances and different lenders' criteria. Some lenders do not use income multiples at all and will lend based on affordability.

Once you add to this the amount that you can afford to pay as a deposit, you have the amount you can pay for your first property.

It is also worth remembering the additional costs, on top of your deposit and mortgage that you will be expected to pay.

For example, you will have to pay stamp duty, which is 1% of the purchase price for properties between £175,001 and £250,000, then 3% up to £500,000 and 4% on properties over £500,000, for properties up to £175,000 you do not have to pay stamp duty.

Plus you will have to pay for the survey and the valuation on the property, plus solicitor's fees.

You may also have to pay an arrangement fee for the mortgage and a Higher Lending Charge - which is insurance for the lender for you defaulting on your payments when your loan is worth more than the property or in some cases this charge is payable when you are only able to pay a small deposit. There are many mortgages that do not carry this charge and based on your situation it is possible that this type of charge can be avoided altogether.

How much you can borrow will depend on your income and whether or not you have any other financial commitments, i.e. loans, credit cards, maintenance payments. It will also depend on how much deposit you have to put down as an initial down-payment on your property.

To find out exactly how much you can borrow, contact us today and we will advise you on your mortgage options.

Your mortgage payments will depend on the following factors:

• the actual amount of the mortgage
• the interest rate applicable to the mortgage
• the term of the mortgage (years over which the mortgage will be repaid)
• whether the mortgage is a repayment or interest only mortgage

A Key Facts Illustration detailing monthly payments will be provided once you have discussed all of the above with us.

It is also worth bearing in mind that there will be additional costs involved that you will need to factor in when budgeting for your mortgage. Such as:

• valuation fee, which will be paid via the lender to an approved surveyor who has carried out an independent assessment of the value of the property you intend to buy
• arrangement fee, this is charged by your lender, i.e. bank or building society, when arranging the mortgage
• solicitor's fees for carrying out the conveyancing work on your property
• Life Assurance and Buildings and Contents Insurance

With the significant increase in house prices over the past few years, many home owners today would like to release some of the equity in their home by remortgaging. But where do you start?

The first step is to contact us and we can advise you on the best remortgaging options.

We will work with you to check the terms and conditions of your existing mortgage. These will tell if you are tied-in to your mortgage deal or if there are any early repayment charges. You can then decide if it is worth switching to a different rate or stay put until the penalties have expired.

We will then talk you through the four types of deal on offer and which will suit you best. These are:

• Fixed rate schemes - ideal for people who want certainty and must be able to regulate how much they will be spending each month.
• Discounted loans - offer a reduction off the standard variable rate for a set period. If rates fall, the rate you will pay will go down but if rates rise, so do your payments.
• A capped-rate loan - sets a limit on the rate you will pay. If rates rise, your payments will not go above that level but if rates fall below the cap so will your repayments.
• Flexible mortgages - allow you to overpay and underpay when you choose, without penalty. This is ideal for people who have fluctuating incomes or who want to clear their mortgage early.

We will of course guide you through the whole remortgaging process, but you're your information this is what will happen:

• An 'early repayment statement' will be obtained from your existing lender telling them how much you owe.
• An application form from your new lender will need to be completed, along with details of your income and proof of your identity. Generally income verification is required, such as payslips and P60 if you are employed or audited accounts, an accountant's reference or Inland Revenue produced tax assessments if you are self-employed. Some lenders may also require bank statements and a mortgage statement from your current lender. In some situations a completed mortgage application and proof of identity are the only requirements.
• Your new lender values your home.
• Subject to all the paperwork being satisfactory, the lender will issue a mortgage offer which will contain the amount of the mortgage and the terms that they will offer you.
• Solicitors will need to be instructed at this point to arrange the legal documentation, leading through to completion of the loan.

The whole process should take about a month to complete.

Once you have received a completion statement from your solicitor or new lender, the process has finished and your new mortgage is in place.

By remortgaging your house, you could reduce your monthly payments by changing the lender and rate. But where do you start?

The first step is to contact us and we will advise you on the best remortgaging options.

We will work with you to check the terms and conditions of your existing mortgage. These will tell if you are tied-in to your mortgage deal or if there are any early repayment charges. You can then decide if it is worth switching to a different rate or stay put until the penalties have expired.

We will then talk you through broadly the four types of deal on offer and which will suit you best, these are:

• Fixed rate schemes - ideal for people who want certainty and must be able to regulate how much they will be spending each month.
• Discounted loans - offer a reduction off the standard variable rate for a set period. If rates fall, the rate you will pay will go down but if rates rise, so do your payments.
• A capped-rate loan - sets a limit on the rate you will pay. If rates rise, your payments will not go above that level but if rates fall below the cap so will your repayments.
• Flexible mortgages - allow you to overpay and underpay when you choose, without penalty. This is ideal for people who have fluctuating incomes or who want to clear their mortgage early.

We will of course guide you through the whole remortgaging process, but for information this is what will happen:

• A 'early repayment statement' will be needed from your existing lender telling you how much you owe.
• An application form from your new lender will need to be completed, along with details of your income and proof of your identity. Generally income verification is required, such as payslips and P60 if you are employed or audited accounts, an accountants reference or Inland Revenue produced tax assessments if you are self-employed. Some lenders may also require bank statements and a mortgage statement from your current lender. In some situations a completed mortgage application and proof of identity are the only requirements.
• Your new lender values your home.
• Subject to all the paperwork being satisfactory, the lender will issue a mortgage offer which will contain the amount of the mortgage and the terms that they will offer you.
• Solicitors will need to be instructed at this point to arrange the legal documentation, leading through to completion of the loan.

The whole process should take about a month to complete.

Once you have received a completion statement from your solicitor or new lender, the process has finished and your new mortgage is in place.

The time scales can vary considerably when applying for a mortgage and are dependent upon many factors, such as whether you are purchasing a new property or remortgaging.

If you are remortgaging this can take around a month but this does depend on how quickly your solicitor acts, which can delay the process.

There are specialist lenders who deal with borrowers that have mortgage arrears, CCJ's, defaults, have been bankrupt, have Individual Voluntary Agreements or have had homes repossessed.

So do contact us today and we will fully assess your financial circumstances and run through the mortgage options available to you.

The best thing to do in this situation is to contact us and we will get some more detailed information from you in order to clarify which lender would be most appropriate for your requirements.

Buy-to-let has in recent years, become an increasingly popular mortgage option for those wishing to invest in residential rental property.

Like a standard mortgage, landlords have a choice between interest only and repayment mortgages. However, buy-to-let mortgages differ in several important ways from standard mortgages.

A major difference is the criteria lenders apply when considering approving a loan. Buy-to-let mortgage lenders base their decisions on whether or not to approve a loan on the likely rental income from the property and not the applicants' income.

In order to secure finance, rental income is typically needed to be 125% of the mortgage repayment, although as little as 100% rental coverage is available.

To find out more about buy-to-let, and the mortgages available to you, contact us today and we will work through the options available to you.

Buy-to-let mortgages are NOT regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

There are many schemes offered by mortgage lenders from which you as a prospective borrower can choose.

These can be divided into two broad methods of repayment:

Capital and Interest method: - 
With a capital repayment mortgage, the capital and interest elements of the loan are paid off with each monthly installment, with the balance reducing over the length of the loan.

Therefore by the end of the mortgage term, assuming all mortgage payments are made, you have paid off the balance in full and you therefore own your property outright.

Interest only method: - 
With an interest only mortgage the balance of your mortgage stays the same throughout the mortgage term. Interest and usually a premium in a suitable investment vehicle are paid monthly. 

At the end of the term, the proceeds from the investment vehicle are intended to repay the mortgage. This amount will depend on the performance of the investment vehicle.

If you do choose an interest only mortgage you are responsible for ensuring that you have sufficient funds available to repay your mortgage at the end of the term.

Broadly speaking, there are four types of mortgage products available:

Fixed: 
This is a mortgage rate where the interest rate is agreed at the start of the mortgage and will not change during the term of the fixed rate. So you know exactly how much your monthly payments will be each month during the fixed rate period.

Discounted: 
A discounted rate mortgage offers you reduced repayments for a given term. This interest rate is discounted from the published bank standard variable rate, for an agreed period from the start of the mortgage.

What this means for you the borrower is that you are guaranteed to pay a set amount below the standard variable rate for the period of the discount. The standard rate can go up and down, but the discount amount remains fixed during the agreed period.

Tracker:
This is a variable rate mortgage where the interest rate is linked directly to the Bank of England Base Rate. Therefore when the Base Rate changes, the rate on your tracker mortgage changes by the same amount.

Capped:
This is a type of loan where a maximum rate of interest is set at the start of the mortgage term. During the capped rate period the interest rate can fall below the capped rate but will never rise above it.

What this means for you the borrower is that you know how high the mortgage payments could rise but are guaranteed the rate will not go any higher, therefore making home loan budgeting easier.

This will depend on what type of mortgage product you have chosen:

Please refer to the mortgage type's page for more details.

A wide range of lenders provide right to buy mortgages so your first step should be to contact us today, and we will run through the mortgage options available to you.

In the meantime we thought you may find the following information on right to buy useful.

You may be eligible to qualify to buy your council home if you are a secure tenant of either; a London Borough council, a district council, a non-charitable housing association, or a housing action trust.

Discounted rates are usually offered to council tenants for their homes. So if you are a council tenant wanting to buy your home, the rate you will pay will depend upon how long you have lived there. The amount of discount you will receive is roughly in proportion to the number of years you have been paying rent.

Once you have received the right to buy your council property, you need to think about how much you would like to borrow and how much you can afford to borrow. Some borrowers like extra monies for home improvements. Most lenders will allow the client to borrow enough for the discounted purchase price and a set amount for home improvements subject to affordability. All borrowers will need to be on the right to buy papers.

There are a range of lenders available who provide flexible mortgages for self build renovations and conversions. Money is available when it is needed - at the start of each stage of the build. This positive cash flow allows the build to progress more quickly and money in advance ensures that you can negotiate the best prices for material and labour.

So, contact us today and we will run through the self-build mortgage options available to you.

In a nutshell a mortgage is a type of loan used to buy a property. This loan is usually taken out with a lender, such as a bank or building society.