Different Types of Mortgages Explained

Mortgage Advice in Manchester

Whether you are being introduced to the world of mortgages as a First Time Buyer in Manchester or are going through the process of Moving House in Manchester, you will realise that there are lots of various types of mortgages offered.

Various mortgages are more popular than others, and some may even be difficult to find. As your friendly Mortgage Broker in Manchester, we have compiled a list of some of the most common mortgage types you might encounter.

Here Malcolm has compiled a playlist of videos to explain the different types of mortgages available in Manchester. Below you will also find one of our moneymanTV episodes for each mortgage type, and we hope you find them helpful! Watch more useful Mortgage Guides on moneymanTV or go directly to our “Mortgages Explained” playlist here.

The different types of mortgages:

What is a Fixed-Rate Mortgage?

A fixed-rate mortgage means that your mortgage payments will stay the same for a set period. You can set the length you want to fix your costs for, typically 2, 3, or 5 years or longer. No matter what happens to inflation, interest rates, or the economy, you know that your mortgage payment, usually your biggest outgoing, will not change.

What is a Tracker Mortgage?

A tracker mortgage indicates that your interest rate will track the Bank of England’s base rate. Meaning, the lender that you are with does not set the rate themselves. You will be paying a percentage above the Bank of England base rate. For example, if the base rate is 1% and you are tracking at 1% above the base rate, that means you will be paying a rate of 2%.

What is a Repayment Mortgage?

When you take out a repayment mortgage, meaning each month you are paying capital and interest combined, as long as you keep your payments going for the full length of the mortgage term. The mortgage balance is guaranteed to get paid off at the end, and the property becomes yours.

This is the most risk-free way to pay your capital back to the lender, in the early years it is mainly the interest that you are paying and your balance will reduce very slowly especially if you have taken out a 25, 30 or 35-year term. This situation switches in the last ten years or so of your mortgage, where your payments are paying off more capital than interest and the balance will come down much faster.

What is an Interest Only Mortgage?

Whilst many buy to let mortgages in Manchester get set up on an interest-only basis, it is much more challenging to get a residential property on an interest-only basis. It is much less likely for lenders to offer an interest-only product now. 

However, there are certain circumstances where this can be an option. These include downsizing when you are older or have other investments that you will use to pay the capital back. Lenders are stringent when it comes to offering these products now, and the loan to values are a lot lower than before.

What is an Offset Mortgage?

Initially becoming popular in Australia, Offset Mortgages are a flexible type of Mortgage Arrangement. Due to there being a lot more to these than the average mortgage, the interest rates can be slightly higher. Offset Mortgages give you the ability to potentially overpay your mortgage, underpay your mortgage or pay off a lump sum.

The main attraction of these types is that your chosen lender will open up a savings account to run alongside your mortgage account. As an example, we’ll say that you take out a £100,000 mortgage but in your savings, you already have £30,000. You can then put that £30,000 into your new savings account and only pay interest on the remaining £70,000. The idea behind this is that if you keep your payments up as normal per month, then you’re able to pay off the mortgage earlier and with less interest.

What is a Capped Rate Mortgage

Similar to Fixed-Rate mortgages, Capped Rates have a maximum amount that a customer will pay each month with a maximum interest rate. With that in mind, if you’re capped at say 5%, you’ll never go higher than 5%. Where these can be more beneficial, however, is if interest rates start to drop. So for example, if the rates dropped to 4%, 3% or 2%, then your mortgage will do the same.

What is a Flexible Mortgage

Flexible mortgages allow you to underpay and overpay by unlimited amounts. Underpayments are only allowed if you’ve overpaid first and have agreed with a lender to do so. This, however, is not something that we recommend. Overpayments can be fairly beneficial though, as you could end up paying off the mortgage early and with significantly less interest. Mortgage flexibility is normally a feature of Offset Mortgages, which you can read about above.

Specialist Mortgage Advice in Manchester