Mortgage guides

How Long Should a Mortgage Be? The Term Trade-Off

A longer term lowers the payment and raises the total sharply. Here is what each extra decade actually costs, and why flexibility usually beats commitment.

Refinancing and overpaying 8 min read

Overpaying Your Mortgage: What It Actually Saves

A modest regular overpayment can remove years from the term and a large share of the interest — provided it reduces the term rather than the payment.

Refinancing and overpaying 8 min read

When Refinancing Is Worth It: The Break-Even Calculation

Refinancing pays when the monthly saving clears the total cost of switching before you leave. Here is the sum, and the four cases where it fails.

Refinancing and overpaying 8 min read

First-Time Buyer Mortgages: The Schemes, and the Catches

Low-deposit products, state guarantees and shared ownership all reduce the cash you need — and each of them costs something. Here is what.

Mortgage types 9 min read

Mortgages Around the World: Why Advice Does Not Translate

A thirty-year fix, a five-year fix and a lifetime tracker are all called fixed-rate mortgages somewhere. Here is what actually differs between markets.

Mortgage types 9 min read

Repayment or Interest-Only? What You Owe at the End

One clears the debt over the term; the other leaves the whole balance outstanding at the end. Here is who interest-only is actually for.

Mortgage types 8 min read

Debt to Income: The Ratio That Decides More Applications Than Salary

How DTI is calculated, what counts as debt, the caps that apply in different markets, and the fastest ways to move the ratio before applying.

Affordability and deposit 8 min read

Deposit and LTV: Why the Bands Matter More Than the Amount

Rates are priced in LTV bands, so a small extra deposit that crosses a threshold can be worth more than any negotiation. Here is where the thresholds sit.

Affordability and deposit 9 min read

How Much Can I Borrow? What the Lender Is Actually Calculating

Income multiples are the rule of thumb; debt-to-income, the stress test and your outgoings are what really set the number. Here is the whole calculation.

Affordability and deposit 9 min read

How Mortgage Interest Is Calculated, Month by Month

Interest is charged on what you still owe, not on what you borrowed. That one sentence explains amortisation, overpayment savings and daily interest.

Rates and costs 8 min read

APR and Fees: Why the Cheapest Rate Is Often the Expensive Deal

A large arrangement fee can turn the best headline rate into the worst offer. Here is how APR works, what it misses, and how to compare properly.

Rates and costs 9 min read

Fixed or Variable? The Decision Is About Your Budget, Not the Market

Fixed buys certainty and costs a little more; variable starts lower and moves. The honest test is what a three-point rise would do to you.

Rates and costs 9 min read

Mortgage Terms Explained: The Words on Every Offer

APR, LTV, DTI, amortisation, early repayment charge, porting — the vocabulary you need before comparing two offers, with what each one actually costs you.

Mortgage basics 8 min read

How a Mortgage Actually Works, Start to Finish

What you are agreeing to when you take a mortgage: the security, the stages of the process, and the points where the deal can still change.

Mortgage basics 9 min read

How a Mortgage Calculator Works: The Formula, Shown

One equation produces the monthly payment, and everything else follows from running it month by month. Here is the arithmetic, and what most calculators leave out.

Mortgage basics 8 min read